Atrichelaphinis (Eugeaphinis) bjornstadi, Rojkoff, Sebastien & Perissinotto, Renzo, 2015

Rojkoff, Sebastien & Perissinotto, Renzo, 2015, Review of the genera Anelaphinis Kolbe, 1892 and Atrichelaphinis Kraatz, 1898 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), ZooKeys 482, pp. 91-142 : 117-120

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Scarabaeidae

Atrichelaphinis (Eugeaphinis) bjornstadi sp. n. Figure 18

Type specimens.

Holotype male: Tanzania, Mbulu, Mamamisara, 2000 m, J. Kielland leg, ( Bjørnstad 34728), 6-III-1981 (IRSN). Paratypes: Tanzania, 1♂, same data as HT ( Bjørnstad 34727) (PCSR); 4♂ 1♀, Babati D., Mt. Kwaraha, 1850 m, J. Kielland leg, 30-IV-1987 ( Bjørnstad 35080, PCTG; Bjørnstad 35077-35079 and 35081, PCSR, PCRP and IRSNB); 1♀, Ngorongoro Crater, 2200 m, J. Kielland leg, 14-II-1980, ( Bjørnstad 35052, PCSR); 1♀ same data as above but 2300 m ( Bjørnstad 41980, PCAB).

Description

(n = 9). Size: length ♂, 13.6-14.6 mm; ♀, 12-15 mm; width ♂, 7.9-8.5 mm; ♀, 7.1-8.7 mm.

Body. Velutinous, brown with green to dark green marks, with small white spots scattered throughout, sometimes becoming confluent on lateral declivity of elytra, pronotum and pygidium; light pilosity distributed on vertex, lateral margins of pronotum, apical part of elytra and pygidium; mesepimeron with sculpture and pilosity on whole surface.

Head. Clypeus slightly transverse, almost as long as wide, anterior margin reborded and slightly incised at middle; disc convex, regularly punctated on entire surface, except few small smooth areas, punctures denser and confluent laterally and in front.

Pronotum. Not tuberculate in front, with round and slightly detectable lateral angles; posterior half of lateral margins not parallel but convergent in front; posterior angles blunt; posterior margin strongly concave in front of scutellum, with lateral edges almost straight; sculpture of setigerous crescent punctures, almost absent on disc, denser in front and laterally.

Scutellum. Unsculpted, laterally grooved, with white tomentum.

Elytra. With lateral margins almost straight and parallel, posthumeral emargination weak; sculpture of thin and incomplete horseshoe punctures more developed laterally and at apex, sometimes confluent resulting in broken lines; lines of punctuation geminate; sutural apex acute.

Pygidium. With small white spots scattered throughout, becoming confluent.

Underside. Shiny, with white confluent tomentum laterally on anterior margin of sternites and on lateral sides of metasternum; pilosity long and thin; mesosternal apophysis transverse, anterior border slightly convex, strongly compressed between mesocoxae and not protruding in front in lateral view; abdomen concave in male, convex in female; last sternite less sculpted at middle in male.

Legs. Metafemora sometimes with white spots of tomentum on underside close to joint; meso- and metatibiae with transverse carina just after middle; metatibial spurs thinner and more acute in male, larger and blunt in female.

Aedeagus. Parameres forming slight concavity at middle of lateral margins; without projections at apex, but with marked incision at middle of downturning frontal margin.

Derivatio nominis.

This species is named after the Norwegian entomologist Anders Bjørnstad, who provided the type series for study.

Remarks.

This species is most closely related to Atrichelaphinis (Eugeaphinis) vermiculata , from which it can be separated mainly by the shape of the clypeus. It has also a distinct pronotum, with lateral margins strongly diverging in a posterior direction and the lateral angles obliterated, which also allow easy separation from Atrichelaphinis (Eugeaphinis) vermiculata . Its elytra exhibit visible but relatively shallow sculpture. The species has so far only been recorded from northern Tanzania.