Amithao albopictus Neervoort van de Poll, 1886

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2013, A Revision Of The Neotropical Genus Amithao Thomson, 1878 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 67 (3), pp. 265-292 : 270-272

Amithao albopictus Neervoort van de Poll, 1886 ( Figs. 4–9 )

Description. Length 21.5–27.5 mm; width across humeri 11.6–14.6 mm. Color entirely black, shiny. Pronotal punctures along lateral margins cretaceous or not. Basal angle with short, cretaceous mark on bead or not. Elytra with sparse, round or transverse, cretaceous spots or flecks, spots rarely lacking. Pro-, meso-, metaventrites, and profemora in males with numerous cretaceous punctures, females mostly lacking cretaceous punctures. Head: Lateral margins distinctly elevated. Frons and clypeus concave either side of weak, median, longitudinal swelling, apex of swelling abruptly declivous before clypeal apex. Surface densely to confluently punctate, punctures mostly large, setigerous (when not abraded away); setae long, moderately dense, black. Clypeus with apex broadly bilobed ( Fig. 4 ), strongly reflexed. Eyes large, interocular width equals 3.0 transverse eye diameters (males) to 4.0 (females). Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in males, subequal in length to antennomeres 2–7 in females. Pronotum: Surface with punctures moderately dense on disc, moderate to large, punctures becoming larger and denser on lateral thirds; punctures on anterior fourth either side of middle with sparse, short, black setae (when not abraded away). Lateral margins with thick bead. Elytra: Surface punctate, with 2 distinctly elevated, parallel costae terminating at prominent apical umbone; punctures moderate to large, moderately dense, becoming larger and denser laterally. Lateral margins behind middle and apices behind apical umbone strigulose. Apices at suture subacutely produced. Pygidium: Surface densely, concentrically strigulose, setigerous; setae dense, short, black. In lateral view, profile nearly flat. Venter: Setae mostly black. Mesometasternal process only slightly protuberant in lateral view ( Fig. 6 ), apex broadly rounded in ventral view. Abdominal ventrites in males nearly smooth in central third; lateral thirds with moderate to large, moderately dense punctures. Females with punctures on lateral thirds sparse. Legs: Protibia slender in males, with single, apical tooth. Protibia in females broader, strongly tridentate, basal 2 teeth closer to one another than is apical tooth to median tooth. Parameres ( Figs. 7–8 ): Apices bluntly rounded, curving inwards, shaft emarginate at middle on lateral edges.

Distribution. Amithao albopictus is known from only the Pacific slopes of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Locality Records. 122 specimens from ADMC, BCRC, BMNH, DEIC, INBC, MGFT, MNHN, MUCR, NMPC, PKLC, RMNH, UNSM, WBWC, ZMHU, ZSMC. COSTA RICA (74): ALAJUELA (4): Estación Experimental Agrícola Fabio Baudrit, San Rafael de Ojo de Agua. CARTAGO (2): Embalse El Llano near Orosi, Turrialba. GUANACASTE (25): Estación Murciélago (Parque Santa Rosa), Estación Santa Rosa, Finca Jenny (30 km N Liberia), Maritza Biological Station, Santa Cecilia (9 km S). HEREDIA (12): Heredia, La Ribera de Belen , San Francisco, San Joaquín de Flores , San Rafael, Santo

5) Ventral view.

Domingo. PUNTARENAS (20) : Estación Agujas (Osa Peninsula), Estación Sirena (Osa Peninsula), Guacimal, Monte Verde, Santa Elena (6 km S), Rancho Quemado (Osa Peninsula), Reserva Biologíca Carara. SAN JOSÉ (8): Escazu, Estación Zurquí, Guadalupe, Pavas, San José, Tibas. NO DATA (3) . NICARAGUA (5): RIVAS (5) : Cardenas (Finca Guadeloupe). PANAMA (41): CHIRIQUÍ (20) : No data. PANAMÁ (21) : Altos de Cerro Campana, Cerro Azul (6 km NE), Cerro Jefé, Lake Cerro Azul. NO DATA (4).

Temporal Distribution. March (4), April (15), May (57), June (18), July (1), August (1).

Diagnosis. Amithao albopictus is distinguished by its shiny black dorsum and legs with, usually, a sprinkling of small, cretaceous spots on the elytra and venter; the elytral spots are occasionally absent. Only A. erythropus and A. haematopus also have a shiny black dorsum, but the femora and tibiae in A. haematopus are bright reddish brown, and the pronotum in A. albopictus is distinctly punctate, whereas it is minutely punctate, almost smooth, in A. erythropus .

Natural History. This species is diurnal ( Fig. 9), and specimens have been collected in traps baited with rotting bananas and mangos ( Solís 2004) and in flight intercept traps at elevations of 100–1,600 m (label data).

Figures

Figs. 4–5. Amithao albopictus. 4) Dorsal view;

Figs. 6–8. Amithao albopictus. 6) Form of mesometasternal process, lateral view; 7) Parameres, dorsal view; 8) Parameres, lateral view.