Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) fortigibber Reitter, 1909

Ziani, Stefano, 2012, Taxonomic notes on Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) lemuroides d’Orbigny, 1898 and O. (P.) fortigibber Reitter, 1909 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Onthophagini) Stefano Ziani, Insecta Mundi 2012 (217), pp. 1-9 : 4-6

Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) fortigibber Reitter, 1909

( Fig. 9–14 )

Onthophagus tricuspis Semenov, 1900: 93 [type locality: “Caucasus centralis: Mlety” [Mleta, Georgia]; type material: holotype male, fixed by monotypy, not examined, in Russian Academy of Science, S. Petersburg, according to Balthasar 1963], not O. coenobita var. tricuspis Mulsant, 1842: 128 ; Olsoufiev 1900: 274; d’Orbigny 1900: 296 (as junior synonym of O. lemuroides ); Reitter 1906: 729; Olsoufiev 1918: 81; Boucomont 1924: 114; Boucomont and Gillet 1927: 129; Winkler 1929: 1031; Balthasar 1963: 560; Petrovitz 1963: 238; 1968: 465; Carpaneto 1977: 40; Dzhambazishvili 1979: 145; Rössner 1991: 267; Carpaneto et al. 2000: 231; Tauzin 2001: 113

Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) tricuspis: Baraud 1992: 384

Onthophagus fortigibber Reitter, 1909: 79 ; Olsoufiev 1918: 81 (as junior synonym of Onthophagus tricuspis Semenov, 1900 ); Medvedev 1965: 188; Zunino 1978: 84 (as junior synonym of O. tricuspis ); Rössner, 1991: 267 (as junior synonym of O. tricuspis )

Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) fortigibber: Shokhin 2000: 6 ; Löbl et al. 2006: 167; Kabakov 2006: 193; Shokhin 2007: 124

Onthophagus unxovi Bogachev, 1930: 87 [type locality: “Vezuri, prope Lesora, Ossetia meridionalis (distr. Rača)” [Racha, Georgia]; type material: lectotype male (designated by Tarasov 2005) and 7 paralectotypes, not examined, in the Zoological collection of MGU, Moscow, according to Tarasov 2005]; Balthasar 1963: 572 (as O. unzovi , incorrect subsequent spelling); Tarasov 2005: 257 (as junior synonym of O. fortigibber )

Type locality. For O. fortigibber “Aus dem zentralen Kaukasus: Umgebung von Wladikawkas” [Vla- dikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, southern Russia].

Type material. Holotype, for O fortigibber , fixed by monotypy, a male according to the author (actually a female), in HNHM (examined).

Diagnostic features. Length 5.5 to 8.0 mm. Color blackish brown, poorly shiny due to distinct micro- reticulation; elytra blackish brown with basal reddish yellow spots on 2 nd and 4 th interstriae (holotype), some specimens with spots on base of 3 rd and 6 th /7 th interstriae, some with an additional humeral spot– 5 th interstria always without basal spot, 1 st interstria always blackish brown along entire length, in all the examined specimens, some with apical spots, more or less joined and forming a single larger one extended over 2 nd interstria to the side; some with nearly the entire elytral surface, except disc, dark yellow ( Fig. 9–11 ); pubescence pale yellow.

Head with clypeus broadly round on either side of shallow median emargination, barely sinuate near obviously produced genae. Clypeofrontal carina weak or absent in males, moderately elevate but distinct, bent backward in females; occipital carina distinct in both sexes, extended in an erect straight lamina, only slightly bent backward in males. Clypeal and frontal surface with large setigerous punctures, more widely spaced on frons than on clypeus in males; females only with frontal surface simply punctate, clypeal surface with very coarse, transversely rugose or sub-rugose punctures. Setae long and erect.

Pronotum convex, declivous anteriorly, with distinct anterolateral tubercle on either side and with an anteromedian round prominence, clearly projecting further forward than the anterolateral tubercles. Anterior angles distinctly produced, sides not or very indistinctly sinuate behind them. Dorsal surface setigerously punctate, punctures broad, sub-regular in distribution, separated by 1–3 diameters on disc, gradually becoming sparser toward base; each puncture bears a small granule at its anterior margin, and a long pale yellow seta.

Elytral striae shiny, barely impressed, with punctures slightly larger than strial width and barely crenating interstrial sides. Interstriae flat to barely convex, all, except the sutural interstria, rather regularly biserially granulate; granules slightly smaller than strial punctures; posterior margin of each granule with a small, indistinct, setigerous puncture; setae pale yellow, thin, shorter than pronotal ones.

Pygidium with widely spaced, setigerous punctures; setae yellow, long, thin.

Inner angle of protibial apex with a small denticle strongly curved downward in males, lacking denticle in females.

Parameres ( Fig. 12–13 ) short, barely sinuate along sides, latero-apical spatulae bent ventrally, not or very slightly diverging apically, without latero-proximal denticle, latero-apical angle round. Lamella copulatrix ( Fig. 14 ) horseshoe shaped and clearly emarginate at one side, right lobe with a strongly sclerotized plica ventrally bent.

Distribution. Georgia, Azerbaijan, South Russia, Ukraine. Turkey ( Löbl et al. 2006).

Material examined. RUSSIA: “ Sakka Tschmi ”, “ Umg. Wladikaw / kas”, 16.vii.1907, 1 female (holotype, HNHM) ; “ Cauc. centr. / Ossetia / Lars ”, 31.v.1913, 2 females ( MNHN) . TURKEY: GümüŞhane prov., Bay- burt, 2000 m, 3.vii.1992, S. and R. Ziani leg. 1 male ( SZCM) ; GümüŞhane prov., Zigana geçidi, 2100 m, 19.vi.1992, A. Ballerio leg. 2 males and 1 female ( SZCM) .

Remarks. Most probably the record of O. fortigibber from Ukraine derives from an incorrect placement of its type locality. “Wladikawkas”, presently Vladicavkaz, is a town in the Republic of North Ossetia- Alania, southern Russia, not, as stated by Zunino (1978), in the Ukraine.

Figures

Figures 9-14. Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) fortigibber Reitter, 1909. 9) Holotype female. 10-11) Males (TR- GümüŞhane, Zigana geçidi, 2100 m). 12) Parameres, dorsal view (drawing by Ivo Gudenzi). 13) Parameres, lateral view (drawing by Ivo Gudenzi). 14) Lamella copulatrix.