Epidrepanus kenyensis Roggero, Stanbrook, Josso, Barbero

Palestrini, Claudia, 2017, hips of Epidrepanus within the subtribe Drepanocerina (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Oniticellini), with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 4320 (1), pp. 1-24 : 10

Epidrepanus kenyensis Roggero, Stanbrook, Josso, Barbero , and Palestrini, new species

( Figs. 31 , 35–41 )

Material examined. Holotype, male, “ KENYA: Nyeri County Aberdare N.P. Ark Gate S-00.33847 E-036.84521 2083m asl 14.v.2015 coll. R. Stanbrook ex. Waterbuck dung Afromontane moist transitional forest” (slide EPI_39) [ MMUE].

Paratypes, KENYA: Nyeri County Aberdare National Park: 1 male [ NMKE] ; 3 females, one without head and pronotum (slides EPI_10, EPI_12 and EPI_14) [MMUE]; 1 male without head and abdomen (slide EPI_13) [MMUE].

Diagnosis. A detailed list of the identification characters is given in Table 3.

Description. Length 5.0– 5.5 mm. Blackish brown, with head, pronotum, and elytra shiny; pygidium and ventral side matt; legs and antennal club black.

Head clypeal margin rectilinear; genae angulate anteriorly; eyes small; punctation deep and dense, closer on vertex; vertex with distinct carina, slightly notched in the middle in both sexes, length two thirds of the interocular distance; surface with yellow, dense, long setae. Pronotum slightly rounded (in male) or flat (in female), with a depression on sides; fore angles apically rounded; surface covered by wide, rather dense punctures with brown, long, thick, spatulate setae; setae mixed in the anterior part with yellow, thin, long setae. Elytra surface bearing scattered, brown, thick, clavate setae; setae shorter that those of pronotum. Rough elytral microsculpture with small, imbricate, thick punctures. Hindwing, see Fig. 31 . Pygidium carinate, with two ovalar depressions on sides and one in the lower part, the surface with a coarse microsculpture and sparse, large, setigerous punctures. Metasternal disc bearing a longitudinal carina on the anterior half and a pyriform hollow posteriorly. Metasternal disc with superficial, wide, dense punctures; scattered, spatulate, yellow setae. Abdominal segments with a rough surface covered by large, deep, merging punctures Male and female genitalia, see Figs. 37–41 . Epipharynx, see Fig. 35 .

Distribution. The species was collected from a protected area in Kenya ( Fig. 25 ), within the known range of Epidrepanus ( Roggero et al. 2015) .

Ecological notes. The species is a non-selective dung feeder (R.S., personal observation). The species was collected via pitfall trapping using traps baited with elephant dung and searching by hand through the dung of giant forest hog and waterbuck at elevations ranging between 2032–2425 m. The habitats where the species were found varied in elevation, but all individuals were located in open canopy areas adjacent to forest or bushland edges. All individuals were found in dung deposited overnight, suggesting that this species has a nocturnal activity pattern. Etymology. The species was named after its type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 25. Map of the distribution of Epidrepanus caelatus (green dots), E. nyika new species (purple rhomb), E. kenyensis new species (blue rhomb), E. pulvinarius (orange triangles) and E. schimperi (red star).

FIGURES 29 – 33. Hindwing (scale bar = 1.0 mm). 29, Epidrepanus caelatus. 30, E. nyika. 31, E. kenyensis. 32, E. pulvinarius. 33, E. schimperi.

FIGURES 34 – 35. Epipharinx (scale bars = 0.2 mm). 34, Epidrepanus nyika. 35, E. kenyensis.

FIGURES 36 – 41. Epidrepanus kenyensis. 36, habitus of the holotype, Nyeri County Aberdare National Park, Ark Gate, Afromontane moist transitional forest (scale bar = 2.0 mm). 37 – 39, aedeagus, with the side and ventral views of the parameres (scale bars = 0.2 mm). 40, vagina and receptaculum seminis (scale bar = 0.2 mm). 41, lamellae of endophallus, with the detail of the lamella copulatrix (scale bar = 0.2 mm).