Odontorrhina pubescens hantam, Perissinotto, 2012

Perissinotto, Renzo, 2012, Description of a new species and a new subspecies of Odontorrhina Burmeister, 1842 (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), with ecological notes on the genus, African Invertebrates 53 (2), pp. 733-733 : 737-738

Odontorrhina pubescens hantam ssp. n.

Figs 3, 4

Etymology: This subspecies is named after the Hantam Plateau in the Hantamsberg mountains of the Northern Cape Province, where the type series was collected.

Diagnosis: The shape of the anterolateral margin of the pronotum is much rounder in O. p. hantam ( Fig. 3a ) than in the nominal subspecies, where a virtually obtuse angle is to be seen ( Fig. 7 ). Also, the white band along the lateral margin is thinner and limited to the anterior 2/3–1/2 of the pronotal sides in O. p. hantam ( Fig. 3a ), whereas it is generally wider and complete in O. p. pubescens ( Fig. 7 ). The other areas of white marking are also drastically reduced in O. p. hantam, with the ventral side in particular exhibiting hardly any of the cretaceous bands ( Fig. 3b ) that are so prominent on the femora and abdominal sternites of the nominal subspecies. The setae on the elytral surface of O. p. hantam are less dense, shorter and thicker than in O. p. pubescens . Finally, the typical metallic green sheen of the nominal subspecies appears to be replaced by a darker, bronze to coppery sheen in O. p. hantam ( Fig. 3a ). The male genitalia are very similar in the two subspecies, but the dorsal lobes of the parameres appear to be broader at the apex in O. p. hantam ( Fig. 4 ) than in O. p. pubescens (cf. Holm & Marais 1992, fig. 61a, b).

Description:

Size. Length 21.4–25.0 mm, width 12.2–13.1 mm (n =4).

Holotype: ♂ SOUTH AFRICA: Northern Cape: Calvinia, Hantamsberg [31°25'S 19°50'E], 15.xii.1995, A.P. Marais ( SAMC).

Paratypes: SOUTH AFRICA: 2♂ same data as holotype ( PCRP, PCMB) ; 1♂ same data but 9.ii.1996 ( PCBM) ; 1♂ same data, emerged [in Cape Town ], 17.iii.1996, A.P. & M.E. Marais ( PCRP) ; 2♂ 1♀ same data but 23.iii.1996 (2♂ PCBM, 1♀ PCRP) .

Remarks: O. pubescens hantam appears to be restricted to the high altitudes (> 1400 m) of the Dolerite Renosterveld bioregion in the interior part of the Northern Cape Province (Hantam Plateau). On the other hand, O. p. pubescens is found along the Western and Northern Cape coast, in the Western Strandveld and the Namaqualand Hardeveld and Sandveld bioregions, from sea level to about 500 m.

Figures

Figs 3, 4. Odontorrhina pubescens hantam ssp. n.: (3) male dorsal (a) and ventral (b) side; (4) frontal (a) and side (b) view of male aedeagus.

Fig. 7. Odontorrhina p. pubescens, male feeding on sap of a freshly barked Melianthus sp. branch.