Augoderia Burmeister, 1847

Moore, Matthew R., Cave, Ronald D. & Branham, Marc A., 2018, Synopsis of the cyclocephaline scarab beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Dynastinae), ZooKeys 745, pp. 1-99 : 45-47

Augoderia Burmeister, 1847

Type species.

Augoderia nitidula Burmeister, 1847: 34, by monotypy.

Valid taxa.

Five species and subspecies.

The five species and subspecies of Augoderia are distributed in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Peru, and Venezuela ( Burmeister 1847, Harold 1869b, Arrow 1937b, Blackwelder 1944, Guimarães 1944, Martínez 1966, Gibbs et al. 1977, Endrődi 1966, 1967a, 1981, 1985a, Riehs 2005, Ronqui and Lopes 2006, Ponchel 2009, Grossi et al. 2011, Ratcliffe et al. 2015) (Fig. 55). Augoderia species are similar to some Cyclocephala in overall appearance, although three taxa ( A. giuglarisi Ponchel, A. nitidula nitidula, and A. nitidula yungana Martínez) are notable for their metallic, mother-of-pearl luster that reflects circularly polarized light, a cuticular trait that is rare in Dynastinae ( Endrődi 1967a, 1981, Ponchel 2009, Pye 2010). The biology of Augoderia species is completely unknown. Gibbs et al. (1977) reported A. nitidula as a floral visitor of Magnolia ovata , but this beetle was likely a misidentified Cyclocephala species (see Gottsberger et al. 2012, Moore and Jameson 2013). The immature stages are undescribed. Adults are attracted to lights at night ( Riehs 2005, Ronqui and Lopes 2006, Grossi et al. 2011).

Augoderia , though maintained as a valid genus since Burmeister (1847), is poorly defined and diagnosed in the literature. The irregularly spaced punctures of the elytra and the mother-of-pearl sheen of some taxa are the only characters historically used to separate Augoderia from Cyclocephala . Thus, the genus has no clearly hypothesized synapomorphic characters. For example, many characters used to diagnose Augoderia in Endrődi’s (1985a) Dynastinae of the World are all variably present in Cyclocephala , Arriguttia , and Aspidolea species: 1) body short, convex; 2) dorsal coloration yellow, with dark maculae, and with or without metallic reflections; 3) mandibles of males with small anterolateral tooth, lacking in females; 4) frontoclypeal suture complete; 5) 10-segmented antennae with a short club in both sexes; 6) large eyes; 7) males with thickened protarsi; and 8) protibia tridentate in both sexes.

The following combination of characters can be used to recognize Augoderia species: 1) dorsal coloration yellowish or light brown, with or without elytral maculae, with or without metallic, mother-of-pearl sheen; 2) body not anteroposteriorly compressed or dorsoventrally flattened; 3) clypeal apex evenly rounded in dorsal view; 4) frons mesad of eyes with long, erect setae; 5) frontoclypeal suture complete; 6) males with anterolateral margin of mandibles weakly toothed; 7) mandibular molar area with rows of circular micropunctures; 8) apical margin of mentum weakly emarginated; 9) galea of the maxilla on inner surface with 3 fused basal teeth, a free median tooth, and 2 fused apical teeth (3-1-2 arrangement); 10) pronotum at base with incomplete or complete marginal bead; 11) pronotum on anterolateral portions with long, erect setae; 12) males and females with 3 protibial teeth, basal tooth reduced, removed from the apical 2 teeth, and oriented anteriorly; 13) protibial spur straight to weakly deflexed; 14) males with inner protarsal claw enlarged and narrowly cleft at apex; 15) mesocoxae widely separated; 16) metatibiae without distal, transverse carinae; 17) metacoxae with lateral edge perpendicular to ventral surface; 18) anterior edge of hindwing distal to apical hinge lacking setae and with produced, membranous border; 19) vein RA with 2 rows of pegs extending distally nearly to margin of apical hinge.