Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844

Bento, Matheus, Jameson, Mary Liz & Seidel, Matthias, 2022, New species and illustrated key of Macraspis (Scarabaeidae, Rutelinae, Rutelini) from the Amazon biome of Brazil, ZooKeys 1124, pp. 161-189 : 161

Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844

Figs 2E , 8A-D , 9I-M , 12

Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844: 351 (original description); Lucas 1857: 124, pl. 7 fig. 6; Ohaus 1898: 52; 1918: 55; 1934: 154; Blackwelder 1944: 242; Machatschke 1972: 71; Soula 1998: 37; 2003: 39; Krajcik 2007: 80; Brûlé et al. 2014: 182; Ratcliffe et al. 2015: 199; Hielkema and Hielkema 2019: 143.

Macraspis maculata crosarai Soula, 1998: 38 (original description); Soula 2003: 39; Krajcik 2007: 80. Syn. nov.

Type material examined

(2 males, 1 female). Lectotype male of Macraspis maculata (designated by Soula, 1998) deposited at MLUH, labeled: "maculata / Dej. / Bras. Coll. (green, handwritten) // LECTOTYPE ♂ / Macraspis / maculata B. / M. Soula 1994". Holotype male of Macraspis maculata crosarai Soula deposited at MNHN, labeled: “BRÉSIL / ÉT. DE GOYAZ / JATAHY / PUJOL, 12-97; 1-98" (white, printed) // "HOLOTYPE / Macraspis / maculata / crosarai / So. / M. Soula det." (red, printed and handwritten). Paratype female of M. maculata crosarai at MNHN, labeled: "Jathay / État de Goyaz / Ch. Pujol 1895-96" (white, printed) // “Muséum Paris / ex Coll. / R. Oberthür / 1952" (bluish white, printed) // "MACRASPIS / maculata Bu / Soula det." (white, printed) // "ALLOTYPE / Macraspis / maculata / crosarai / So. / M. Soula det." (red, printed) // " MNHN / EC10776" (white, printed).

Additional material examined

(18 males, 13 females). Brazil, Bahia, Prado , 05.III.1971, C. Elias (leg.) (♀, DZUP) ; Brazil, Espírito Santo, Conceicao da Barra , 04.X.1969, C. T. & C. Elias (legs.) (♂, ♀, DZUP); idem, but 26.IX.1968 (2♂, ♀, DZUP); idem, but 19-25.XI.1968 (♂, ♀, DZUP) ; Brazil, Espírito Santo, Linhares, X.1965 (♂, DZUP); idem, but XI.1965 (♀, DZUP); idem, but no date (♂, DZUP); idem, but XI.1966, A. Maller (leg.) (♂, ♀, DZUP); idem, but Rio Itabapoana , 26.X.1906, J. F. Zikán Coll. (♀, CEIOC) ; Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Corcovado , XII.1961, Seabra & Alvarenga (legs.) (♀, DZUP) ; Brazil, Minas Gerais, Rio Jose Pedro , 28.XI.1926, J. F. Zikán Coll. (♀, CEIOC) ; Brazil, Tris. [= Trisanga (= Irisanga)], N.8 (3♂, NHMW) .

Distribution

(Fig. 12 ). Brazil. São Paulo (Irisanga = Oriçanga; Burmeister 1844), Rio de Janeiro, Goiás ( Soula 1998, 2003), Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais (new state records).

Remarks.

Macraspis maculata has been recorded from the Brazilian Amazon ( Ohaus 1918, 1934; Machatschke 1972; Brûlé et al. 2014) but similarities with other species have posed problems with identification. In his treatment for M. maculata , Soula (1998) considered the species to be widely distributed, and he justified the creation of related taxa because: “… some populations that are more geographically isolated are already genetically isolated enough to describe subspecies (or even new species ...)" (translated from French). Soula (1998, 2003) restricted M. maculata maculata to Brazilian Atlantic Forest and described M. maculata crosarai from Brazilian Cerrado (distinguished from the nominotypical subspecies by means of coloration). Influenced by Antonio Martínez’s identification labels, Soula (1998) described M. martinezi and compared it with M. maculata (perhaps constituting one of Soula’s "genetically isolated" populations of M. maculata ). He included three subspecies, M. martinezi auzerali , M. martinezi curoei Soula, 1998, and M. martinezi colombica Soula, 1998, all of which are distributed in the Amazon biome (only the first subspecies is known from the Brazilian Amazon) and similar to M. maculata in coloration, form, and genitalic form. The validity of M. martinezi and its subspecies-complex requires evaluation in future studies. Examination of the primary types of M. maculata maculata (Fig. 8A-D ) and M. maculata crosarai (Fig. 8E-H ) revealed no conspicuous differences between these taxa. Based on this examination, we synonymize M. maculata crosarai with the nominotypical M. maculata . Now, M. maculata no longer includes subspecies. Therefore, although the taxon has been recorded to the Brazilian Amazon and French Guiana by past authors ( Ohaus 1918, 1934; Machatschke 1972; Brûlé et al. 2014), M. maculata is treated sensu Soula (1998, 2003) in this paper and considered to be distributed in the Brazilian Cerrado and Atlantic Forest rather than the Brazilian Amazon region. For this reason, this species was excluded from the key provided here.

Figures

Figure 2. Macraspis spp. (A-O). Dorsal view of head of A M. oblonga B M. olivieri and C M. xanthosticta. Lateral view of mesothorax of D M. festiva E M. maculata and F M. c. chloraspis. Female pygidium of G M. oblonga H M. olivieri and I M. morio. Dorsal view of female abdomen of J M. p. pseudochrysis and K M. lepiouffi paratype. Metatarsus of L M. morio and O M. olivieri. Female last abdominal ventrites of M M. morio and N M. p. pseudochrysis. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A-C), 1 mm (D-O).

Figure 8. Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844, lectotype male (A-D) A dorsal view B ventral view C aedeagus D lectotype label. M. maculata crosarai Soula, 1998, holotype male (E-H) E dorsal view F ventral view G aedeagus H labels.

Figure 9. Macraspis opala sp. nov. (A-H) and Macraspis maculata Burmeister (I-M): Macraspis opala sp. nov., holotype male A dorsal view B ventral view C pygidium in caudal view D spiculum gastrale E aedeagus, dorsal view F aedeagus, caudal view G lateral view, paramera (of paratype) and H caudal view. Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844 from Linhares, Espirito Santo state, Brazil, I spiculum gastrale J aedeagus in dorsal view K caudal view and L lateral view M pygidium in caudal view. Scale bars: 2 mm (A, B); 1 mm (C, M); 0.5 mm (E, G, J, L); 0.2 mm (F, H, K).

Figure 12. Distribution of Brazilian species of Macraspis treated in this publication. The Brazilian Amazon biome is colored lime green. Brazilian states are abbreviated as follows: AC = Acre, AM = Amazonas, AP = Amapa, BA = Bahia, ES = Espirito Santo, GO = Goias, MA = Maranhao, MG = Minas Gerais, MT = Mato Grosso = PA = Piaui, RO = Rondonia, RJ = Rio de Janiero, RR = Roraima, SP = Sao Paulo, TO = Tocantins.