Chelotrupes Jekel, 1866

Dellacasa, Marco & Dellacasa, Giovanni, 2008, Revision of the genus Chelotrupes Jekel, 1866 n. stat. (Insecta, Coleoptera, Geotrupidae), Zoosystema 30 (3), pp. 629-640 : 631

Genus Chelotrupes Jekel, 1866 n. stat.

Chelotrupes Jekel, 1866: 549 (as subgenus of Geotrupes ).

Ceratophyus (Chelotrupes) – Reitter 1893: 8. — Porta 1932: 401.

Typhaeus (Chelotrupes) – Boucomont 1912: 22.— Luigioni 1929: 390. — Winkler 1929: 1036. — Báguena Corella 1967: 260. — Carpaneto & Piattella 1995: 4. — Martín- Piera & López-Colón 2000: 122.

TYPE SPECIES. — Scarabaeus momus Fabricius, 1792 (junior homonym and synonym of Scarabaeus momus Olivier, 1789 ) (original designation).

DISTRIBUTION. — Sardinia, southwestern Iberian Peninsula

DIAGNOSIS. — Species with joined elytral sutural margin (flightless species), length 10.0-22.0 mm, glabrous or almost glabrous, blackish, entirely shiny, sometimes with metallic shine or with elytra dull. Head rhomboidal, strongly narrowed and elongate posteriorly; epistoma with median longitudinal gibbosity more or less elevated and more or less coarsely, diffusedly punctate; clypeus subtriangular with anterior angles rounded, finely margined, the edge ciliate, distally upturned; genal sutures cariniform, usually acutely protruded laterally beyond clypeal margin; genae widely rounded, densely elongately ciliate; front sparsely punctate or smooth; second antennal segment cylindrical, distinctly longer than wide, the club oblong, rather slender, with the median segment as large as the others. Pronotum strongly transverse, moderately convex, at sides with an antero-median rounded foveola more or less deep; sides more or less feebly arcuate, more or less widely flattened, thinly margined, the edge ciliate; hind angles rounded, base margined, not or faintly sinuate. Scutellum triangularly more or less broadly transverse. Elytra short or very short, at most two times longer than the pronotal length; truncate at base, strongly convex, flattened laterally before the epipleural carina; the latter glabrous or almost sparsely ciliate; humeral callus more or less strongly gibbous; striae fine, often obsolete; very superficially, usually almost indistinctly punctate; intervals flat, not punctate, smooth or with feeble transverse rugulae. Fore tibiae denticulate at outer margin; the apical tooth simple. Middle tibiae with four transverse carinae on outer face. Hind tibiae with five transverse carinae on outer face. Sexual dimorphism shown in males mainly by the exceptionally different shape of pronotum and by strongly different punctation of epistoma.

BIONOMICS. — Flightless telocoprid species present all year round and distributed from sea level to high hills.