Engertia amboinae ( Brenske, 1897 )

Prokofiev, Artem M., 2016, On the Phytophagous Scarabs of the Subfamilies Dynastinae, Rutelinae, and Melolonthinae from the Schouten Islands (Kepulauan Biak), Indonesian Papua (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Species Diversity 21, pp. 71-77 : 73

Engertia amboinae ( Brenske, 1897)

Phila amboinae Brenske, 1897: 111 .

Material. 1 female, Indonesia, Papua, Yapen I ., northern coast, Rosbori village , at light, 14.11 .2012, A . M . Prokofiev leg .; 1 isolated elyton, Miosindi Islet between Biak and Yapen Is ., on sea coast, 15.11.2012, A . M . Prokofiev leg.

Remarks. Five known species of Engertia Dalla Torre, 1912 are distributed in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, southern Moluccas, and New Guinea ( Keith 2006). Surprisingly, the Schouten specimens represent not E. papuana (Moser, 1913) known from the main island of New Guinea, but E. amboinae which has been known hitherto only from Ambon I. ( Keith 2006). The females of E. amboinae can be distinguished easily from those of E. papuana by the shape and density of the scales on the elytra which are larger, ovate, and more numerous and more closely packed in contrast to the sparse lanceolate scales of E. papuana ( Figs 1–2 ). Both Schouten specimens agree well in this character with the type of E. amboinae (cf. Keith 2006). The third Indo-Australian species of this genus, E. setifera (Moser, 1913) , can be easily distinguished by the presence of setae instead of scales on the elytra ( Fig. 3 ). The Yapen I. and Miosindi Islet records greatly extend the known distribution of this species, which is probably widely distributed in eastern Indonesia.

Figures

Figs 1–3. Scalation of the elytral interspaces in Engertia amboinae, Yapen I. (1); E. papuana, Papua New Guinea: Sentani (2), and E. setifera, Ceram I. (3). Scale bar (common)=1mm.