Eremobothynus hirsutus Grossi & Abadie

Grossi, Paschoal Coelho & Abadie, Esteban Ignácio, 2008, A new species of Eremobothynus Ohaus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) from Argentina, with notes on Eremobothynus cornutus (Steinheil), Zootaxa 1733, pp. 57-60 : 57

Eremobothynus hirsutus Grossi & Abadie , new species

Type material. Holotype: ɗ, handwritten white label - dorsal “Arg: E. Rios/Pronuncia-/miento”, ventral “11.62./D/149 ɗ” (collected in November 1962). Paratypes: (2 ɗɗ) labeled as follows: one with same data as holotype, except 64 instead of 62; one with same data as holotype, except 1966 instead of 62.

Holotype and one paratype deposited at Universidade Federal do Paraná, Coleção Padre Jesus Santiago Moure, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; one paratype deposited in the Esteban Abadie private collection, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Description of the holotype: Length 19.4 mm; greatest pronotal width 10.6 mm ( Figs. 1–2 ). Color brownish red. Body oval and convex, dorsal surface glabrous, ventrally extremely setose. Head: Short and transverse, nearly 2 times wider than long ( Fig. 9 ); frons with sparse, long setae. Frontal horn prominent, wider at posterior edge; surface wrinkled, elongate, curved posteriorly; apex rhomboid. Clypeus short ( Fig. 9 ), quadrate, as wide as horn apical width; apex reflexed. Eye canthus rounded ( Fig. 9 ) with external margin crenulated, apices setose dorsolaterally. Mentum anteriorly projected, triangular; with surface flattened, covered with long setae. Mandibles unarmed, trapezoidal, dorsally convex, with sides subparallel. Antennae with 9 antennomeres, antennal club longer than antennomeres 2-6 combined. Pronotum: Narrower than elytra; border complete and enlarged anteromedially. Surface completely punctate; punctures deeper, more numerous on anterior portion of disc, coalescing around anterior pronotal declivity. Margin of pronotal declivity sinuous, with concavity below, as wide as width of head. Anterior angles acute, almost projected beneath head. Elytron: Surface smooth, shiny with sparse, small punctures; each elytron with 2 impressed longitudinal lines. Epipleuron indicated only in basal third. Legs: Lateral margin of protibia tridentate, basal tooth smaller; dorsal surface with 2 longitudinal rows of long setae. Meso- and metatibial spurs wide and flattened. Abdomen: Pygidium smooth, slightly convex, completely covered by long yellowish setae except at longitudinal midline. Ventral surface extremely setose with long, yellow setae. Aedeagus: Parameres elongated, symmetrical, ventrally with crenulated expansion ( Fig. 5 ). Phallobase on anterolateral basal edge with elevated projection ( Fig. 6 ).

Variation. Length 15.0– 19.4 mm; greatest pronotal width 8.0– 10.6 mm. Structural characters as in holotype except for the following. Head: Frontal horn smaller. Surface more strongly punctate; eye canthus less rounded, almost quadrate. Pronotum: Disc with deeper punctures, sometimes becoming wrinkled. Female unknown.

Etymology. From the Latin hirsutus , meaning “with dense, long and curly hairs;” in reference to the abundance of ventral setae in the species, which does not occur in the other species.

Distribution. Eremobothynus hirsutus is known only from Pronunciamiento, Entre Ríos, Argentina.

Remarks. The new species shares with E. cornutus the presence of a frontal horn in the males. However, E. hirsutus can be readily distinguished from E. cornutus by the following characters: (1) more setose body (ventral surface, pygidium, and head); (2) short head and round eye canthus (long head and acutely projected eye canthus in E. cornutus , see Fig. 10 ); (3) concave anterior pronotal declivity (vertical in E. cornutus ); (4) flattened mentum (strongly convex in E. cornutus ); (5) epipleuron almost absent (entire in E. cornutus ). The genitalia are also distinct, as the parameres in the new species are more posteriorly rounded with a more prominent ventral projection, in contrast to the posteriorly elongated parameres and obscure ventral projection of E. cornutus ( Figs. 7–8 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Eremobothynus spp.: 1 - 2: E. hirsutus sp. nov., holotype, dorsal and lateral views; 3: E. cornutus, male dorsal view; 4: female head and pronotum anterolateral view.

FIGURES 5 – 10. Eremobothynus spp. aedeagus and male head: 5 - 6: E. hirsutus sp. nov. caudal and lateral views; 7 - 8: E. cornutus caudal and lateral views; 9: E. hirsutus sp. nov. head, dorsal view; 10: E. cornutus head, dorsal view. Scale bar = 1 mm.