Copris (Paracopris) punctulatus punctulatus Wiedemann, 1823

Bui, Van Bac, Ziegler, Thomas & Bonkowski, Michael, 2019, Checklist of beetles in the subgenus Copris (Paracopris) Balthasar from Asia with description of a new species, and redescription of Copris (Paracopris) punctulatus Wiedemann (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), Zootaxa 4712 (1), pp. 51-64 : 58-60

Copris (Paracopris) punctulatus punctulatus Wiedemann, 1823

( Figs. 2B, D, F , 3B , 4 A–D)

Copris punctulata Wiedemann, 1823: 11 (original description).

Copris punctulatus: Arrow 1931: 126 ; Sewak 2009: 3; Shahabuddin 2010: 31.

Copris (Paracopris) punctulatus: Balthasar 1963: 370 , fig. 133; Ochi & Kon 1996: 27, figs. 25–26; Kabakov & Napolov 1999: 68; Hanboonsong et al. 2003: 116, figs. 65–68; Mittal & Jain 2015: 390; Bui et al. 2018: 180, fig. 45.

Paracopris punctulatus: Löbl et al. 2006: 153 ; Bai et al. 2011: 4, 6; Sabu et al. 2011: 32; Kabakov & Shokhin 2014: 49; Gupta et al. 2014: 229; Bezděk & Král 2016: 171; Cheung et al. 2018: 242.

Type specimen. Neotype, present designation: male ( MNHN), “ INDONESIA | Java Island | Mt. Moeria , 3–4000’ | ex Coll. R. Oberthür”, “ Copris punctulatus | Wiedemann, 1823 | NEOTYPE, male | Van Bac Bui des. 2019”.

Additional specimens examined. Indonesia, Java: Mt Moeria 3–4000 ’, ex. Coll. R . Oberthür , 1 male, 3 females ( MNHN) .

Description of neotype. Male. Total body length 17.5 mm, body width 9.0 mm. Whole surface reddish brown. Mouthparts and antennomeres 1–6 reddish. Antennal club and setae on legs red.

Head almost semicircular (HeadL 4.5 mm, HeadW 7.0 mm). Clypeus smooth and impunctate; clypeal surface near anterior margin very shiny; clypeal apex distinctly upwards protruded, and widely and shallowly emarginate. Genae rectangular, separated from clypeus by well-defined clypeo-genal suture; genal surface minutely and sparsely punctate. Vertex strongly and densely punctate; punctures of vertex unevenly distributed and unequal in size, denser and coarser at areas near eyes. Cephalic horn small but distinct.

Pronotum (PronL 6.2 mm, PronW 7.5 mm) without anterior declivity; anterior margin slightly downwards curved in middle; anterolateral angles obtuse. Pronotal median sulcus weak; sulcus not extending to pronotal anterior margin. Whole surface of pronotum deeply and densely punctate; punctures slightly larger in middle than in sides and also in anterior part. Each side of pronotum with one deep and large excavation in middle; surface of excavation coarsely but shallowly punctate.

Ventral surface of anterior angles of prothorax flat, and shallowly and sparsely punctate.

Elytra (ElyL 9.3 mm) deeply striate; striae sparsely and equally punctate. Elytral intervals convex and strongly punctate; interval punctures dense, evenly distributed, and relatively equal in size; interval punctures slightly deeper than strial punctures. Each elytron with one rather abrupt vertical flattening near sutural angle.

Mesepimeron flat; surface weakly punctate. Metepisternum flat; surface sparsely but distinctly punctate. Mesosternum flat; surface strongly rugose.

Metasternal plate smooth, and with median deep groove at basal half; metasternal sides sparsely but distinctly punctate and without setae.

Legs. Ventral surface of profemora strongly punctate; punctures unevenly distributed, and unequal in size, becoming denser and coarser at posterior half of femora; a few punctures near profemoral posterior margin with yellow setae. Profemoral margin with yellow, dense and long setae. Protibia with four lateral teeth, and protibial surface smooth and impunctate. Protibial spurs broadly dilated in middle, relatively pointed and slightly curved outwards near apex. Protarsus with five tarsomeres; protarsomere 1 and 5 equal in length, and both slightly longer than individual protarsomere 2–4.

Most ventral surface of mesofemora impunctate, except for small area behind anterior margin with a few strong but sparse punctures. Mesotibia smooth and broadly dilated at posterior end. Two mesotibial spurs almost equal in length and pointed. Mesotarsus with five tarsomeres; tarsomeres elongated, almost equal in length and with yellow scanty setae.

Almost whole ventral surface of metafemora smooth and impunctate, except for apical areas near anterior margin distinctly punctate; punctures with relatively long and red setae. Metatibia smooth and broadly dilated at posterior end, with one spur long and pointed. Metatarsus with five tarsomeres, all tarsomeres bear red and scantly setae; basal metatarsomere slender, and slightly longer than individual metatarsomeres 2–4; basal metatarsomere, metatarsomere 5 and metatibial spur almost equal in length.

Abdomen and pygidium. Abdominal ventrites slightly narrower at midline; most surface of abdomen smooth, except for small areas at sides distinctly punctate. Pygidium (PyL 1.6 mm; PyW 3.3 mm) with complete margin; surface slightly convex and deeply punctate; pygidial punctures very dense to contiguous.

Aedeagus. Phallobase much longer and wider than parameres. A broad angle almost reaching 180º formed by phallobase and parameres. Parameres strongly curved downwards in apical part.

Sexual dimorphism. Females differ from males in the following characters: Clypeal anterior margin not protruded, and without emargination. Head with one strongly curved transverse carina between clypeus and frons. Pronotal anterior margin distinctly forwards curved in middle.

Variability. Total body length 12.5–18.5 mm, body width 6.2–9.5 mm (n=5). There is a significant difference in size of the protruding part of clypeal apex between small and large-bodied males with the latter having a more strongly upwards protruded clypeal apex. Females show no significant differences in external morphology between large and small individuals.

Remarks. Copris (Paracopris) punctulatus was originally described with only 20 text lines and lacking illustrations. Although this species was redescribed by Balthasar (1963) and Ochi & Kon (1996), details on its intraspecific morphological variation are still lacking. Additionally the lack of illustrations of this species poses a great challenge for the reliable identification of this species. Therefore we provide detailed measurements of numerous morphological traits of this species based on a series of examined individuals along with the photographs. Although Christian Rudolf Wilhelm Wiedemann (1770–1840) worked mainly on Diptera, he also published descriptions of Coleoptera ( Fairchild 1967; Pont 1997). Most of the Coleoptera types of Wiedemann were deposited in the Natural History Museum of Denmark and the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH) ( Zimsen 1954; Horn et al. 1990). According to Arrow (1931), the type of Copris punctulatus was deposited in ZMH. However, the major parts of the entomology collection of ZMH were lost in 1943 including an estimated 10.000 insect types ( Weidner 1976). It is very likely that the type of C. punctulatus was also lost during this time, as the entomology collection of ZMH (curator: Martin Husemann) currently contains only the specimens of C. punctulatus collected by E. Ross in 1911 and 1914, Klara Herre in 1949 and Le Moult in 1957. As the real type specimen was lost, we here designate a neotype of Copris punctulatus using a male specimen from Java ( Indonesia), being from the same locality mentioned by Wiedemann. The neotype was designated to maintain nomenclatural stability as Articles 75.3.4 and 75.3.6 of ICZN (1999) required. These detailed morphological description and neotype designation intent to enable a reliable identification of species boundaries within the subgenus Paracopris , and provide a guideline for discovery of potentially novel Paracopris species.

Recently, Ochi et al. (2019) described a new subspecies of C. (P.) punctulatus under the name C. (P.) punctu- latus septentrionalis Ochi, Kon & Pham, 2019 based on eight specimens from northern Vietnam (Phu Tho Province). According to the original description and illustration ( Ochi et al. 2019b: 444–445, fig. 5) and four examined specimens (1 male, 3 females) in MNHN (labelled: Vietnam, Tuyen Quang Province: Chiem Hoa District, Phuc Son Village, November-December, Fruhstorfer lgt.), this subspecies possesses similar morphological characters to the nominotypical subspecies. There are only minute morphological differences in the surface of the pronotum between the two subspecies. While C. (P.) punctulatus septentrionalis possesses a shallowly and sparsely punctate pronotum, the nominotypical subspecies bears a pronotum with deep and dense punctures. The anterior marginal line is thicker in C. (P.) punctulatus septentrionalis, compared to the nominotypical subspecies. In terms of geographic distribution, the nominotypical subspecies has a wide distribution throughout Asia, while C. (P.) punctulatus sep- tentrionalis has so far been found in northern Vietnam (Phu Tho and Tuyen Quang Provinces).

Figures

FIGURES 2A–F. Diagnostic characters separating Copris (Paracopris) javanensis Bui, Ziegler & Bonkowski, new species (A, C, E) from C. (P.) punctulatus punctulatus (B, D, F). A, B, anterior pronotal margin; C, D, pygidium; E, F, aedeagus in lateral view.

FIGURES 3A–C. Surface of elytral intervals of Copris (Paracopris) species. A, Copris (P.) javanensis Bui, Ziegler & Bonkowski, new species; B, Copris (P.) punctulatus punctulatus; C, Copris (P.) cariniceps.

FIGURES 4A–D. Male specimen (A, B) and female specimen (C, D) of Copris (Paracopris) punctulatus punctulatus. A, C, habitus, dorsal view; B, D, habitus, ventral view.