Byrsopolis laticollis Burmeister, 1855

Medeiros, Rone A. F., Seidel, Matthias & Grossi, Paschoal C., 2022, Revision of the genus Byrsopolis Burmeister, 1844 (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae: Rutelinae: Rutelini), with the description of six new species endemic to Brazil and Paraguay, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 56 (29 - 32), pp. 1315-1364 : 1329-1334

Byrsopolis laticollis Burmeister, 1855 ( Figures 4 (a–f), 8(a–f))

Byrsopolis laticollis Burmeister, 1855: 523 (original description); Gemminger and Harold 1869: 1226 (checklist); Ohaus 1926: 226 (citation); Machatschke 1972: 2 (catalogue, distribution); Krajcik 2008: 58 (checklist); Grossi and Vaz-de-Mello 2015: 223 (biology); Ferreira et al. 2018 (checklist, distribution); Carvalho and Grossi 2018: 372 (checklist, distribution); Vaz-de-Mello and Grossi 2022 (online catalogue).

Cotalpa (Byrsopolis) laticollis ( Burmeister, 1855) : 523 (original description); Ohaus 1918: 10 (catalogue, distribution); Ohaus 1934: 37 (citation, checklist); Blackwelder 1944: 235 (checklist).

Type locality. Brazil, Minas Gerais (South of Minas), Cachoeira, Dona Vicenza.

Type material. Lectotype male, here designated. (a) ‘laticollis N6/Bras. Br’. [handwritten by Burmeister], (b) ‘Cacho-/eira’ (1♂ MLUH, specimen examined through images by Dr Karla Schneider) ( Figure 4 (a,b)).

Paralectotype female. (a) ‘laticollis N6/Bras. Br’. [handwritten by Burmeister], (b) ‘Cacho-/ eira’. (1♀ MLUH, specimen examined through images, photos by Karla Schneider), ( Figure 4 (d,e)).

Additional material. [ 12 specimens] Brazil, Minas Gerais . ‘ Brasil, MG, 14 km ao S de/ Ponto dos Volantes,/ 16°52 ʹ S 41°40 ʹ W, 660 m / 12 .ii .2010, P. Grossi, D./Parizotto & G. Melo Legs’ (1♂ CERPE); same, except ‘MG, 15 km ao S/de Ponto dos Volantes/ 16°52 ʹ S 41°32 ʹ W, 640 m,/ 11.ii.2010, P. Grossi, D. Parizotto & G. Melo Legs/Manual’ (1♂ EPGC); ‘Belo Horizonte, A. Costa leg. 1936?’ (1♂ CERPE); ‘ Brasil, MG,/Belo Horizonte,/ x.1943./A. Costa Jor./UFMG ICO/ 1302579’ // ‘B HORIZONTE/ Minas Gerais Brasil /A. Costa J’. // ‘367/x – 943’ (1♂ UFMG); ‘ Minas Gerais, v. Langsdorf/Zool. Mus. Berlin’ // ‘crassa/Blanch./Minas G. v Langsdorf [handwritten]’ (1♂ ZMHB); ‘Brasília’ // ‘ Byrsopolis / crassa Blanchard /Museum f. Naturkunde/Berlin’ (1♂ ZMHB); ‘ xi.1993 /Min. Ger./(Araguary)/Coll. R. Spitz’ // ‘Ohaus determ’ (1♂ ZMHB); ‘Barbacena/Minas ger’. // ‘ Byrsopolis / laticollis Bŭrm. /m. d. Type vergl./Halle 10.VIII.1911 ’ (1♂ ZMHB); ‘Brasília’ // ‘ Byrsopolis / laticollis Burmeister /Museum f. naturkunde/Berlin’ (1♂ ZMHB); ‘Minas/Brasília’ // ‘ Byrsopolis /castanea/Burm./Brasil’ (1♂ NHMUK); ‘11,446’ // ‘?gifh? in Nahren arso? [handwritten]’ // ‘Hist. – Coll. ( Coleoptera )/Nr. 11,446/ Byrsopolis crassa Blanch. / Minas Gerais, v. Langsdorf/Zool. Mus. Berlin’ // ‘crassa/ Blanch./Minas G. v Langsdorf [handwritten]’ (1♂ ZMHB); ‘Brasília’ // ‘ Byrsopolis / crassa Blanchard /Museum f. Naturkunde/Berlin’; ‘ ♂ ’ // ‘Coleção Entomológica Adolph/Hempel – Instituto Biológico/IBSP – IB – 0.006.538’ // ‘J. F. Zikán/Virginia/S. Minas Ger./ 10.xii.1921 / 900 m \Paracatü [sic, Paracatu]’ // ‘ Byrsopolis /laticollis/Brm’ // ‘ Byrsopolis /laticollis, Burm’ (1♂ IBSP).

Diagnosis. Uniformly coloured, from light brown to black or reddish; clypeal shape subtrapezoidal, with elevated and weakly rounded anterior margin; weakly concave; antennal club 2.1x longer than antennomeres II–VII combined; scutellar plate with broadly rounded base; elytral apex with acute angles; elytra moderately striate, humeri sparsely punctate; protibial spur about 3x longer than wide; parameres almost straight, basal margin of parameres slightly concave.

Description of the lectotype. Male. Body. Oval elongated, rounded sides; orange-brown colour, reddish-brown to black, orange-reddish at the marginal areas ( Figures 4 (a-b), 8(a)). Length 25.70–30.21 mm. Humeral width 14.00– 15.75 mm. Elytral width 15.30–17.80 mm. Head. Clypeus about 2x wider than long, shape subtrapezoidal, elevated apex, apex weakly rounded, rounded angles; weak to moderate concavity from base to apex; frontoclypeal suture with moderately rounded curvilinear extremities; punctures small to moderately large, densely punctate; glabrous; frons 1.30x longer than clypeus, punctures small to moderately large, moderately to densely punctate; glabrous; mandibles scissorial region with weak sinuosity; apex widely rounded; three setae moderately sized and sparsely distributed near the border ( Figure 8 (c)); maxillary galea with apical tooth well developed, with a weak acute angle near the border, three small sized setae sparsely distributed, one moderately sized seta near border ( Figure 8 (d)); last maxillary palpomere with moderately elliptical sensorial area; last labial palpomere about 2x longer than palpomere II ( Figure 8 (e)); apex of prementum weakly emarginate; labrum moderately emarginate ( Figure 8 (f)); antennomere III subcylindrical, antennomeres IV and V subquadrate, antennomeres VI and VII subconical; antennal club about 2.10x longer than antennomeres II–VII combined ( Figure 8 (a)). Thorax. Pronotum transverse, about 1.60x wider than long ( Figures 4 (a), 4(a)); punctures small to moderately large, moderately to densely punctate; border with punctures and setae sparsely distributed; scutellar plate subtriangular, base moderately rounded; glabrous; punctures small to moderately large, sparsely to moderately distributed, sparse at marginal areas. Elytra. About 1.10x longer than wide; moderately striate; punctures small to large, moderately to densely distributed; humeral punctures with small to moderate and sparsely punctate; elytral apex with acute angles; interstriae with punctures moderate to large, moderately coalescent ( Figures 4 (a), 4(a)). Legs. Protibial spur 3x longer than wide; mesotibiae and metatibiae with one carina. Aedeagus. Parameres with rounded apex, with weakly sinuous internal angles; almost straight laterally, weakly divergent; asymmetrical; lateral margin of left paramere weakly excavate longitudinally, with a small carina; basal margin weakly rounded to straight; surface between base of parameres slightly concave only at apex; glabrous ( Figure 8 (b)).

Variation. The colouration in some specimens is reddish, black or reddish-brown; clypeus weakly rounded or almost straight, with same frontoclypeal suture and clypeal elevation.

Female. Similar to male but with the following differences: antennal club shorter, 1.5x longer than antennomeres II–VII combined; thorax and abdomen less hirsute; scutellar plate narrower; elytra without strong coalescent punctures, less striate ( Figure 4 (d,e)); legs longer.

Etymology. The species name laticollis is derived from Latin, lati [lātus] (= large, broad) and collis (= neck), reffering to the broad pronotum in this species.

Distribution. Minas Gerais (Ouro Preto [Itatiaia, district of the municipality] Barbacena, Agudos [ Ohaus 1934], Belo Horizonte, Ponte dos Volantes, Paracatu and Araguari) ( Figure 19 ).

Remarks. Two localities recorded in the literature in the state of Minas Gerais have undergone name changes. Those are Cachoeira, now Cachoeira do Campo in the district of Ouro Preto, and Dona Vicenza (or Fazenda Dona Vicenza), north of Queluzito, on the other side of Serra do Deus-te-livre, today known as Itatiaia (personal communication, Vaz-de-Melo 2017). Furthermore, Ohaus (1934) recorded the species from Agudos, probably the ‘Serra de Agudos’, between the states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. He stated that Burmeister collected in the morning a couple in copula but we found no trace of the female specimen. The new records presented here are from Minas Gerais (Barbacena, Belo Horizonte, Ponto dos Volantes, Paracatu and Araguari).

Figures

Figure 4. Byrsopolis laticollis Burmeister, lectotype male and paralectotype female, dorsal habitus (a, d) and lateral habitus (b, e). Lectotype male and paralectotype female, type labels (c, f). Images from Karla Schneider (MLUH).

Figure 8. Byrsopolis laticollis Burmeister, Minas Gerais, Ponto dos Volantes. Dorsal habitus (a); caudal view of aedeagus (b); dorsal view of left mandible (c); ventral view of left maxilla (d); ventral view of mentum (e); dorsal view of labrum (f). Scale bars: a = 5 mm; b–f = 1 mm.

Figure 19. Distribution map of Byrsopolis species.