Helictopleurus fungicola (Fairmaire, 1899)

Rossini, Michele, Montreuil, Olivier, Grebennikov, Vasily & Tarasov, Sergei, 2021, Genome sequencing reveals extraordinary cephalic horns in the Madagascan dung beetle genus Helictopleurus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae): insight from a revision of fungicola species group, ZooKeys 1033, pp. 63-79 : 63

Helictopleurus fungicola (Fairmaire, 1899) Figure 2A-E, K, L, O

Oniticellus fungicola Fairmaire, 1899: 519.

Helictopleurus fungicola : d’Orbigny, 1915: 425; Boucomont and Gillet 1927: 110; Lebis 1960: 97; Paulian 1986: 105; Paulian and Cambefort 1991: 115; Montreuil 2005a: 133; Orsini et al. 2007: 157 (appendix 1); Wirta et al. 2008: 1081 (phylogeny), 1085 (appendix A).

Helictopleurus pluristriatus d’Orbigny, 1915: 426 (syn. nov.); Boucomont and Gillet 1927: 111; Lebis 1960: 102; Paulian 1986: 106; Montreuil 2005a: 133.

Type material examined.

Of H. fungicola : lectotype, male (here designated): "Madagr Suberblle H. Perrier / Muséum Paris Madagascar Perrier de la Bathie Coll. L. Fairmaire 1906 / TYPE / Oniticellus fungicola Frm Madag / Oniticellus fungicola Fairmaire, 1899 Rossini et al. des. 2021 / LECTOTYPE / Helictopleurus fungicola (Fairmaire, 1899) Rossini et al. det. 2021" (MNHN).

Of H. pluristriatus : holotype, male: “Muséum Paris Madagascar Expéd. La Bonite, Gaudichaud 1837 / Helictopleurus pluristriatus n. sp. d’Orb. / HOLOTYPE" (MNHN).

Distribution.

This species is distributed from the northernmost region of Madagascar to the central-western coast. It is known from the Diana, Melaky, Boeny, and Menabe regions.

Remarks.

The examination of the holotype of H. pluristriatus (Fig. 3F, G ) revealed that d’Orbigny (1915) described this new Helictopleurus using a male of H. fungicola with no exact collecting locality. Hence, H. pluristriatus syn. nov. is here treated as junior synonym of H. fungicola (Fig. 3F, G ). Helictopleurus pluristriatus was described from a singleton male specimen allegedly collected in Madagascar (locality unknown) by the French botanist C. Gaudichaud-Beaupré during his expedition on board La Bonite. All observations, including all the zoological and botanical specimens collected during the expedition were later reported in the Voyage autour du monde exécuté pendant les années 1836-1837 sur la corvette "La Bonite ", which was published in 15 volumes ( Vaillant 1840-1866; Bousquet 2016). The only stop made by La Bonite in the Malagasy region was at Mascarene island, La Réunion. From there the frigate sailed straight toward the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Therefore, Gaudichaud could have received the holotype of H. pluristriatus from other Madagascar collectors, such as A. Pervillé and J.M.C. Richards with whom he had frequently corresponded and exchanged botanical material. Indeed, nowadays, many of Gaudichaud specimens from Madagascar are thought to have been donated to him by these two French botanists, who were the earliest to have collected natural history specimens in Madagascar. At the moment, we can rule out the possibility that the holotype of H. pluristriatus has been collected in La Réunion, as no Helictopleurus are today recorded from the island, but just a few introduced Onthophagus species ( Lacroix and Poussereau 2019). However, its exact collecting locality in Madagascar remains unknown.

Figures

Figure 2. Helictopleurus fungicola A, B habitus of male (A) and female (B) C, D lateral and anterior view of the aedeagus; basoventral lobes (BVLb) E endophallus: lamella copulatrix (LC) K, L details of the superior side of the membranous sac of the endophallus; Endophallic spines (EpS) O lateral view of the head: arrows indicating the absence of humps and tubercles. Helictopleurus peyrierasi stat. rest. F, G habitus of male (F) and female (G) H, I lateral and anterior view of the aedeagus J endophallus: superior (SpLC) and inferior (IpLC) part of the lamella copulatrix M, N details of the superior side of the membranous sac of the endophallus P lateral view of the head: arrows indicate the frontoclypeal hump and the postoccipital central tubercle.

Figure 3. Helictopleurus viettei A, B habitus of male (A) and female (B) C, D lateral and anterior view of the aedeagus; basoventral lobes (BVLb) E endophallus: endophallic spines (EpS); superior (SpLC) and inferior (IpLC) part of the lamella copulatrix. Helictopleurus pluristriatus F dorsal habitus of the holotype G lateral view of the aedeagus.