Allothnonius barretti Britton, 1978

Allsopp, Peter G. & Smith, Andrew B. T., 2022, Australian Melolonthini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae): a third species of Allothnonius Britton, 1978, and notes on the other known species, Zootaxa 5099 (4), pp. 475-484 : 478-479

Allothnonius barretti Britton, 1978

( Figs. 7–10 , 18 )

Allothnonius barretti Britton, 1978: 39 , Figs. 120–122, 276B.

Type series. Holotype (by original designation) ♂: AUSTRALIA: QUEENSLAND: 45 mi. [72 km] SSW of Mt Garnet [18.27°S, 144.82°E], 4.xii.1968, J. Barrett, flying in daylight [ ANIC, examined].

Paratypes (examined). AUSTRALIA: QUEENSLAND. 8♂, same data as holotype [ ANIC] ; 1♂, Minnamoolka, 4.xii.1968 [ UQIC, registration number 49187] .

Other specimens examined. AUSTRALIA: QUEENSLAND. 8♂, Minnamoolka, Kennedy Turnoff, 4 mls [6.4 km] north Herberton Shire | flying over grass 11 am, 4.xii.[19]68 , J. H. Barrett [ QDAF, registration numbers 0-049919, 0-049920, 1-004146, 1-004147, 1-004148, 1-004149, 1-004150; QM] .

Redescription. Male ( Figs 7–10 ). Body 15–17 mm long; head black; pronotum, scutellum, elytra, ventral thorax, and abdominal ventrites dark red-brown; antennae yellow-brown; palpi and legs red-brown. Labrum slightly curved laterally with a median indentation, not protruding beyond anterior margin of upper clypeus, with long, reddishyellow setae. Terminal palpomere of maxillary palp slender, shorter than palpomeres 1–2 together, with dull area on upper surface. Anterior face of clypeus 4x as wide as long, with setiferous punctures along anterior margin, posterior surface smooth; outline of upper surface broadly rounded with a slight median indentation without an emargination but reflexed on anterior, surface very coarsely punctured, with long, yellow-brown setae and flattened, adpressed, white setae. Frons coarsely and densely punctured, covered with dense, long, yellow-brown setae intermixed with a few short, adpressed, white setae; ocular canthi with dense, long, stout setae. Antennal club in males 7-lamellate but lamella of antennomere 4 0.75x length of other lamellae. Pronotal width across base 2x mid length, sides evenly rounded in middle, anterior angles widely obtuse, posterior angles obtuse and slightly rounded, anterior margin not defined, posterior margin defined across middle by a groove and ridge; surface sparsely and irregularly punctured, with long, erect, yellow-brown setae on anterior, posterior and extreme lateral edges, disc with short, flattened, white setae varying in size from contained within their punctures to about 1.5x puncture diameter. Scutellum with scattered, long setae mainly across anterior. Elytra with odd-numbered intervals narrow, convex and unpunctured, punctures smaller than those on pronotum and each containing a small, pale seta; lateral margins with a fringe of longer, stout, light-brown setae. Propygidium densely covered with thin, pale-yellow setae. Pygidium with scattered thin, pale-yellow setae up to 2x as long as puncture diameter. Ventral thorax with dense, long, pale-yellow setae. Legs with scattered pale yellow setae and a few, flattened, white setae. Abdominal ventrites with long, pale yellow setae. Aedeagus ( Figs. 8–10 ) with lateral edges tapering to rounded apices.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Although labelled differently, all specimens appear to have come from the same location ( Fig. 18 ) and were collected on the same day. The locality has a Köppen-Geiger climate classification ( Beck et al. 2018) of Cwa (humid subtropical).

Natural history. Adult males were flying in daylight at 11:00 hr in early December.

Remarks. Britton (1978) stated that some of the 23 paratypes with the same data as the holotype were in QDAF. However, none of the seven specimens in QDAF have paratype labels or Britton’s identification labels.

Figures

FIGURE 18. Known collection localities of Allothnonius spp. in northern Australia.

FIGURES 7–14. Allothnonius spp., males. 7–10. Allothnonius barretti Britton, 1978. 7, dorsal view; 8, aedeagus, lateral view; 9, aedeagus, dorsal view; 10, aedeagus, ventral view. 11–14. Allothnonius brooksi Britton, 1978. 11, dorsal view; 12, aedeagus, lateral view; 13, aedeagus, dorsal view; 14, aedeagus, ventral view. Figs. 8–10, 12–14 reproduced from Britton (1978) (© CSIRO).