Helictopleurus vadoni Lebis, 1960

Rossini, Michele, Montanaro, Giulio, Montreuil, Olivier & Tarasov, Sergei, 2024, Towards computable taxonomic knowledge: Leveraging nanopublications for sharing new synonyms in the Madagascan genus Helictopleurus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae), Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 120304-e 120304 : e120304-

Helictopleurus vadoni Lebis, 1960

Helictopleurus vadoni Lebis 1960: 99 ; Paulian 1986: 107; Montreuil 2005 a: 134;

Helictopleurus parvulus Frey 1975: 305 ; Paulian 1986: 107 (synonymy);

Helictopleurus perpunctatus Balthasar 1963: 292 (syn. nov.) (Fig. 2 d ); Montreuil 2005 b: 376;

Materials

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: dry; disposition: in collection; occurrenceID: 4D23D8E1-C5F7-592F-A169-29C7092BFAD6; Taxon: scientificName: Helictopleurus perpunctatus Balthasar, 1963 ; namePublishedIn: Balthasar V. 1963. Neue arten der familie scarabaeidae. Acta Societatis Entomologicae Cechosloveniae, 60 (4): 284–295.; class: Insecta; order: Coleoptera ; family: Scarabaeidae ; genus: Helictopleurus ; specificEpithet: perpunctatus ; taxonRank: species; scientificNameAuthorship: Balthasar, 1963; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; taxonomicStatus: subjective synonym; Location: continent: Africa; country: Madagascar; Identification: identifiedBy: V. Balthasar; dateIdentified: 1960; Event: eventDate: 1954-07; year: 1954; Record Level: institutionCode: NMPC; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Vadon; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: dry; disposition: in collection; otherCatalogNumbers: MALP 081; occurrenceID: 1ECAEFE1-3A1C-5AEB-84CD-1EC204E0CA16; Taxon: scientificName: Helictopleurus vadoni Lebis, 1960 ; namePublishedIn: Lebis, E. 1960. Insectes, coléoptères Scarabaeidae , Helictopleurina. Faune de Madagascar, 11: 25–130; class: Insecta; order: Coleoptera ; family: Scarabaeidae ; genus: Helictopleurus ; specificEpithet: vadoni ; taxonRank: species; scientificNameAuthorship: Lebis, 1960; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; taxonomicStatus: valid; Location: continent: Africa; country: Madagascar; verbatimLocality: Maroantsetra; Identification: identifiedBy: E. Lebis; Event: eventDate: 1944-9; year: 1944; Record Level: institutionCode: MNHN; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Vadon; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: adult; preparations: dry; disposition: in collection; otherCatalogNumbers: MALP 0820; occurrenceID: 67B9F2FB-62F6-5FCA-8F4D-166C7DD57E70; Taxon: scientificName: Helictopleurus vadoni Lebis, 1960 ; namePublishedIn: Lebis, E. 1960. Insectes, coléoptères Scarabaeidae , Helictopleurina. Faune de Madagascar, 11: 25–130; class: Insecta; order: Coleoptera ; family: Scarabaeidae ; genus: Helictopleurus ; specificEpithet: vadoni ; taxonRank: species; scientificNameAuthorship: Lebis, 1960; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; taxonomicStatus: valid; Location: continent: Africa; country: Madagascar; verbatimLocality: Ankovana; Identification: identifiedBy: E. Lebis; Event: eventDate: 1945-8; year: 1945; Record Level: institutionCode: MNHN; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Diagnosis

Helictopleurus vadoni is readily distinguished from congeneric species by the following combination of characters: elytra dark, with metallic tinges and characteristic brownish-orange spots mostly concentrated on the basal half of the intervals 1–5; elytral intervals with erected setae; pronotum metallic-green, shiny, densely and evenly punctated and setose, discal punctures coarser.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Sambava and Maroantsetra Districts, north-eastern Madagascar (Fig. 3 c ).

Taxon discussion

Helictopleurus perpunctatus was described on two female specimens, without exact collecting locality. According to Balthasar (1963), the holotype is in J. Schulze’s collection (probably in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin), but we could not examine it. In this study, instead, we investigated the morphology of the paratype ( NMPC), which clearly indicates that H. perpunctatus is a female of H. vadoni . Given the original description and Balthasar's expertise on scarabs, we believe that both the holotype and paratype are conspecific. Therefore, H. perpunctatus is established as the junior subjective synonym of H. vadoni ( H. perpunctatus syn. nov.).

Balthasar (1963) states that his conclusions on H. perpunctatus was drawn after consultation of the keys from d’Orbigny (1915). Therefore, it is likely that he overlooked the Helictopleurus that meanwhile were described by Lebis (1960). In so doing, Balthasar considers H. perpunctatus a close relative of H. infimus ( Fairmaire, 1901) and provides a list of characters to separate the two species.

Lebis (1960) included H. vadoni in the fungicola - viridiflavus group, along with seven additional species. These Helictopleurus were subsequently separated into two groups: fungicola and viridiflavus ( Montreuil 2005 a) . Today, the viridiflavus group comprises the following species ( Montreuil 2005 b): H. viridiflavus ( Fairmaire, 1898) , H. vadoni , H. infimus ( Fairmaire, 1901) , H. carbonarius Lebis, 1960 , H. minutus Paulian & Cambefort, 1984 , H. villiersi Paulian & Cambefort, 1984 and H. ambiguus Paulian & Cambefort, 1991 . The majority of these Helictopleurus seems to be strictly associated with dry and semi-arid regions of western Madagascar. The dung beetle fauna of these areas has been poorly investigated and many of these Helictopleurus are only known from the type series, which often consist of single specimens.

Helictopleurus vadoni and H. viridiflavus are the only members of the group that occur in the humid-most eastern Madagascar, with occasional incursions into drier regions (Fig. 3 c ). Helictopleurus viridiflavus is a very distinct species, with elytra brownish and without spots; pronotum metallic-green to coppery, with elongate and very dense punctures.

Figures

Figure 2 d. Dorsal habitus and labels of the paratype of H. perpunctatus;

Figure 3 c. H. vadoni (red arrow indicates the type locality);