Heterogomphus aidoneus ( Perty 1830 )

Alvarez, Héctor Jaime Gasca, da, Claudio Ruy Vasconcelos, Fonseca & Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2008, Synopsis of the Oryctini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) from the Brazilian Amazon, Insecta Mundi 2008 (61), pp. 1-62 : 19-21

Heterogomphus aidoneus ( Perty 1830)

( Fig. 26-28 )

Heterogomphus aidoneus Perty 1830: 45

Scarabaeus aidoneus Perty 1830: 45 (synonym)

Hoplitogomphus piliger Prell 1912: 127 (synonym)

Hoplitogomphus affinis Prell 1912: 127 (synonym)

DESCRIPTION. Length: 41.5-55.5 mm. Width: 24.5-26.0 mm. Color: Dark reddish brown to black; pronotum brown to black

Males. Head: Frons with moderately long horn strongly curved, robust, apex rounded; sides of horn with micropunctures. Eye canthus with apex rounded, surface moderately wrinkled. Clypeus reflexed, strongly emarginate, apex with 2 subquadrangular lobes with a notch at center. Antenna with 10 segments, club subequal in length to segments 2-7. Mandibles simple, tooth long, apex rounded. Pronotum: Prominence long, high; apex bilobed, each lobe with apex rounded, weakly curving forward. Sides with a conical, tuberculiform process above lateral margin, weakly curved, apex rounded. Fovea broad, surface smooth. Elytra: Sutural stria impressed. Surface with 1-2 rows of punctures, punctures small, sparse; lateral margin weakly wrinkled. Pygidium: Surface finely punctate to moderately wrinkled. Posterior margin with a transverse band of long, reddish brown setae. Angles weakly rugose. In lateral view, surface convex. Legs: Protibia quadridentate. Apex of posterior tibia strongly crenulate. Apex of first tarsomere of posterior tarsus long, subtriangular. Venter: Prosternal process high, densely setigerous, apex rounded to quadrangular. Parameres: Long, slender, apex weakly contracted, setigerous in the central region. Surface or posterior region with sparse punctures ( Fig. 26-27 ).

Females. Females unavailable.

DIAGNOSIS. Males of H. aidoneus can be distinguished by a broad, large pronotal fovea, a high pronotal prominence projecting upward that is bilobed at the apex, and by a conical tubercle on each side of the pronotum.

DISTRIBUTION. Heterogomphus aidoneus occurs in Ecuador, southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina ( Endrödi 1976). The specimen listed below from Pará state represents a NEW RECORD from the Brazilian Amazon.

LOCALITY RECORDS. ( Fig. 28 ) 2 specimen examined (2 males). Specimens were seen from the following collection : MZSP.

PARÁ (2). Óbidos.

TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION. No data

BIOLOGY. Little is known about the biology of this species. Adults of H. aidoneus construct burrows at the base of the stalks and on foliage of bamboo plants, Chusquea ramosissima Lindm. (Poaceae) in particular, and they feed on the sap that comes from the stems ( Keller 2003). The sap flowing from stems damaged by the scarabs is also a food resource for adults of Lasiodactylus kelleri Cline ( Coleoptera : Nitidulidae ). The burrow microhabitat provided by these dynastines is an ideal refuge for nitidulids due to its proximity to food and as a refuge from predation ( Cline and Carlton 2004).

In the Brazilian Amazon, this species has been collected from an area of seasonal whitewater inundation forest (várzea).

Figures

Figure 28. Distribution of Heterogomphus aidoneus in Brazilian Amazonia.

Figure 26-27. Heterogomphus aidoneus. 26) Parameres frontal view. 27) Parameres lateral view (scale line: 2 mm).