Aegidinus steinheili (Harold, 1880)

Frolov, Andrey V., Akhmetova, Lilia A. & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z., 2019, Contribution to the knowledge of Aegidinus Arrow (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae): new species and comments on the classification and nomenclature, Journal of Natural History 53 (11), pp. 725-747 : 735-736

Aegidinus steinheili (Harold, 1880) , distinct species

( Figure 2 (a–g))

Aegidium steinheili Harold, 1880: 42

Aegidinus guianensis nec Westwood, 1845: 175, auct.: Arrow 1904: 739, 1912: 31; Paulian 1984, 98; Colby 2009: 20

Type locality. Colombia, Antioquia, San Carlos.

Type material examined

Lectotype. Male ( Figure 2 (a)) at MNHN labelled ‘ S. Carlos/Columbia Aegidinus Steinheili Harold /Col. Benderitter ae. guianense/ Aegidinus guganesis (Westw.) R. Paulian det./ Aegidinus steinheili (Har.) R. Paulian det./Museum Paris/Museum Paris Coll. M. Pic/ HOLOTYPE / Aegidinus guianensis ’. The labels of this specimen do not agree completely with the data provided by Paulian (1984), but we believe that this is the specimen that Paulian intended to designate as the lectotype. There are cases in which Paulian did not properly label his material with type labels (Olivier Montreuil, Antoine Mantilleri, pers. comm.). However, this specimen is the only one bearing Paulian ’ s handwritten identification labels and it definitely belongs to the type series from San Carlos.

Paralectotypes. COLOMBIA. Antioquia: one female at MNHN labelled ‘ San Carlos /G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil / MNHN ’; two males at MNHN labelled ‘ San Carlos /G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./sp. nov./ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil / Museum Paris / Aegidinus candezei (Preudhomme de Borre) det. J.B. Colby 2008/ MNHN ’; one male at MNHN labelled ‘ Nare (Wallis)/G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil / Museum Paris / MNHN 03 – 2005 ADSmith/ MNHN / Aegidinus guianensis (Westwood) det. J.B. Colby 2008 ’; one female at BMNH labelled ‘ S. Carlos / Aegidinus guianensis, Westw. Agrees with type (♀)/ Ex. Musaeo E. Steinheil /ex Coll. Oberthur. 1904 – 175./ Cotype / BMNH / Aegidinus guianensis Westwood INVALID TYPE det. J.B. Colby 2007 ’; one female at MNHN labelled ‘ San Carlos /G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil / Brit. Mus . Accepit ./ MNHN ’; one female at MNHN labelled ‘ San Carlos /G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil / MNHN ’; one female at MNHN labelled ‘ San Carlos /G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil / Museum Paris / MNHN 03 – 2005 ADSmith/ MNHN / Aegidinus guianensis (Westwood) det. J.B. Colby 2008 ’; one male at MNHN labelled ‘ San Carlos /G. J. Arrow Vidit 1903./ Steinheili Harold / Ex. Musaeo E. Steinheil / Brit. Mus . Accepit ./ Museum Paris / MNHN / Aegidinus guianensis (Westwood) det. J.B. Colby 2008 ’; one male at BMNH labelled ‘ San Carlos / Steinheili Har. [...]/ Ex . Musaeo E. Steinheil /ex Coll. Oberthur. 1904 – 175./ Cotype /BMHN/ Aegidinus guianensis Westwood INVALID TYPE det. J.B.Colby 2007 ’. Additional material examined

COLOMBIA. One male at MNHN, Canoas [not traced locality]. One male at IRSNB labelled ‘ Coll. R. I. Sc. N. B. Bresil Steinheil. ex coll. Candèze/ Aegidium Alatum Cast. Br. / Aegidinus guianensis (Westwood) det. J.B. Colby 2008 ’; a mislabelled specimen (see below) most probably collected in San Carlos.

Diagnosis

Aegidinus steinheili is most similar to Ae. petrovi Colby and Ae. teamscaraborum Colby but differs from them by having ventrolateral lobes of parameres long and slender (in lateral view), noticeably longer than dorsomedial lobes ( Figure 2 (d – f)). The female has a punctation of the body similar to that of the male ( Figure 2 (c)); the external female genitalia are as in Figure 2 (g).

Remarks

Arrow (1904) considered Ae. steinheili ( Harold 1880) to be a synonym of Ae. guianensis ( Westwood 1845) although he did not study the genitalia of the specimens. Paulian (1984) and Colby (2009) followed Arrow, apparently because they did not study the type of Ae. guianensis and thus misinterpreted this species. Examination of the female type of Ae. guianensis and conspecific males (see above) showed that Ae. steinheili is distinct from it and all other Aegidinus species.

Paulian (1984) studied most of the Aegidinus specimens from San Carlos and one from Nare and, based on the external characters, identified them as two species, Ae. steinheili (= Ae. guianensis sensu Paulian ) and Ae. candezei . He designated the larger male from San Carlos, with the denser punctation of the body, as the lectotype of Ae. steinheili ( Figure 2 (a)). We dissected all specimens of this series and found that characters of the male and female genitalia are congruent with the characters of the external morphology. In this material we found two male morphotypes and two female morphotypes and we agree with Paulian that they belong to the two species mentioned above.

In the collection of IRSNB there is a male specimen of this species with the labels ‘ Coll. R.I.Sc.N.B. Bresil Steinheil. ex coll. Candèze/ Aegidium Alatum Cast. Br. / Aegidinus guianensis (Westwood) det. J.B.Colby 2008 ’. It was among a small series of Aegidiellus alatus Laporte de Castelnau having the same printed labels ‘ Coll. R.I.Sc.N.B. Bresil [...] ’ but with varying additional data. These labels were placed by IRSNB technical staff under previously unlabelled specimens that were in the collection drawer next to the bottom label ‘ Aegidiellus alatus ’. The record of Ae. steinheili from Brazil ( Colby 2009, as Ae. guianensis ) is apparently based on this mislabelled specimen which is very similar to the larger males of the type series ( Figure 2 (b)).

Figures

Figure 2. Aegidinus steinheili, lectotype, male (a, d–f), male with erroneous label ‘Bresil Steinheil...’. (b), female, paralectotype (c, g). Habitus in dorsal view (a–c), female external genitalia (g), aedeagus in lateral (f) and ventral view (d), parameres in dorsal view (e).