Carneiola Endrödi, 1974

Duarte, Paulo R. M. & Grossi, Paschoal C., 2025, Taxonomic revision of Carneiola Endrödi, 1974 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Pentodontini): a Neotropical genus originally misdescribed from New Zealand, Zootaxa 5716 (4), pp. 579-585 : 580

Carneiola Endrödi, 1974

Type species. Carneiola zealandica Endrödi, 1974

Diagnosis. Carneiola is separated from other genera of Pentodontini from the New World by the following combination of characters: head flattened dorsally, without tubercles, carina, suture or horn ( Fig. 1A ); clypeus with a downward process on the lateroposterior margin close to the ocular canthus ( Fig. 1B ); apex of the mesotibiae and metatibiae bidentate ( Fig. 1C ); metatibial apex with no setae ( Fig. 1E ); tergite VII devoid of stridulatory striae ( pars stridens) ( Fig. 1F ); female bearing a middle excavation on tergite VIII ( Fig. 1F ).

Remarks. Endrödi (1974) pointed out that he only described Carneiola due to its distribution from New Zealand. Endrödi (1974) likely based the generic description on mislabeled specimens, since no further record of C. zealandica was made since its description. Dechambre (2005) compared Carneiola to the South American genus Bothynus , differing then by two tubercles on the pygidium. However, both females in the type series of C. zealandica as well as females of B. hervivorus share a central excavation on tergite VIII, which form a slight bump on each side of its respective tergite (besides other characters). Moreover, the characters of the female pygidium described by Endrödi (1969, 1974) are similar for B. herbivorus and C. zealandica , reinforcing the supposition that the author only described Carneiola due to data on labels. Therefore, we propose the synonymization of C. zealandica under B. herbivorus here. We also highlight that B. herbivorus has a set of characters distinct (see the “Diagnosis” of Carneiola ) from those of Bothynus , which in turn has a head with tubercle (one or two) or a transverse carina (incomplete or not), clypeus without downward lateroposterior process, mesotibial and metatibial apex truncate and bordered with setae, tergite VII with stridulatory striae, and female tergite VIII flattened. For this reason, B. herbivorus should be removed from the current genus. Furthermore, the flattened head and female tergite VII are two characters exclusive to B. herbivorus and do not match with any other Pentodontini genera of the New World. We opted to maintain Carneiola as valid to accommodate B. herbivorus and avoid creating unnecessary generic names. In this sense, B. herbivorus is transferred to Carneiola , which consequently becomes a genus with an entirely Neotropical distribution.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Diagnostical characters of C. herbivora: A) head, in dorsal view; B) head, in lateral view (red arrow point to the lateroposterior downward process; C) metatibia (red arrow points to apical teeth); D) parameres, in caudal view; E) tergites VII–VIII and metatibial apex, in lateral view (red arrow points to the bumps of tergite VIII, white arrow point to a metatibial glabrous apex); F) tergites VII–VIII, in caudal view (red arrow point to a central excavation, white arrow point to absence of stridulatory striae).