Pygopleurus rapuzzii, Keith, Denis & Uliana, Marco, 2008

Keith, Denis & Uliana, Marco, 2008, Contribution to the knowledge of Iranian Pygopleurus Motschulsky, with description of P. rapuzzii n. sp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Glaphyridae), Zootaxa 1825, pp. 59-64 : 60-63

Pygopleurus rapuzzii n. sp.

HOLOTYPE: 1 male, Iran, Azarbayjan-e-Gharbi, 33 km W Mahabad, 1700 m, 14.V.2002, P. Rapuzzi leg. (coll. Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris); PARATYPES: 1 male, Iran, Azarbayjan-e-Garbi, 26 km W Mahabad, 1400 m, 14.V.2002, G. Sama leg. (coll. Keith); 1 female (ALLOTYPE), same data as holotype (coll. Keith); 1 female, Iran, Azarbayjan-e-Gharbi, Mahabad, 1500 m, 36.47 N / 45.46 E, 5.V.2000, J. Kalab leg. (coll. Keith); 1 male and 1 female, Iran, Azarbayjan-e-Gharbi, S. of Urmiya lake, mts N. Mahabad, 1500–1900 m, 7–8.V.2007, S. Murzin leg (coll. Uliana).

MALE: length (from the anterior margin of the clypeus to the apex of the elytra) 10.5–12.0 mm (holotype: 10.8 mm).

Colour: head, pronotum, and scutellum coppery green (holotype, Fig. 1 ) or purple to light violet (paratype, Fig. 2 ). Elytra light brown without crimson reflections, the suture and margins very narrowly black with metallic reflections. Propygidium black in basal half, reddish brown in apical half; pygidium entirely reddish brown. Abdominal sternites I–III entirely black but with rather vague metallic brown reflections, IV mainly black, with a red apical margin, the remaining abdominal sternites entirely red. Scape and first antennomere of the antennal funicle black, the second one mainly black with a reddish brown apex, the following entirely reddish brown (holotype) or with light black edging. Femora and tibiae metallic green (holotype) to purple. Tarsi black with green (holotype) to purple reflections.

Setae: rather dense and mixed in colour. Head and pronotum with mainly yellowish white, thin, erect pilosity. Pronotum with presence of thicker and longer, rather scattered black erect setae, sparser on the discal area, much denser laterally. Elytra with adpressed pilosity short and black; a few erect setae grouped on the disc in a single row parallel to the suture; setae black, thick, longer with some light setae close to the apex; epipleura with long black, erected bristles. Propygidium with rather long, erect, yellowish white pilosity. Pygidium with similar but sparser and somewhat shorter pilosity. Pilosity of the abdominal sternites scattered, very dense laterally, yellowish white and fairly long. Legs with long, soft, yellowish white to yellow setae internally; short, spiniform, light brown bristles outside.

Morphology: clypeus trapezoidal, slightly narrowed at the base, lateral and anterior margins slightly raised, anterior angles marked, briefly rounded; anterior margin indistinctly incised. Clypeus convex in the middle with no trace of median carina, punctation of average size, irregularly distributed, not convergent, piliferous; larger and denser before the clypeofrontal suture. Frons and vertex with punctation similar to basal part of clypeus. Pronotum laterally evenly rounded, anterior angles obsolete, posterior angles indistinct. Integument with frosted appearance due to microsculpture, microreticulated; without vermiculated wrinkles, rather densely punctate. Scutellum triangular with setiferous punctures. Elytra with apex separately rounded, externally much more than internally, without sutural denticle. Proclaws short and strongly curved. Protibiae with three strong, large teeth. Aedeagus as in Figs. 9–10 , length of parameres 1.05 mm.

FEMALE: Distinctly stouter than the male, without clypeal carina or, at most, with weak indication at clypeal base ( Fig. 5 ), head and pronotum purple to purplish black, elytra varying from uniform brown ( Fig. 3 ) to black with a vague blue tinge ( Fig. 4 ). Elytra not truncated, but with sutural angle acuminated. Genital valves as in Fig. 11 .

DISCUSSION: Pygopleurus rapuzzii belongs to group III as definite by Baraud (1989). It comes from the area near Mahabad in northwestern Iran, where Pygopleurus anahitae Mitter was also described, and with which it can be easily confused (see description in Mitter 2001) due to similarity in external morphology. We were able to compare the series of P. rapuzzii with various specimens of P. anahitae : one paratype (male), five topotypes (two males, three females) from the type locality and same collecting event as the holotype, five specimens from locations very near to the type locality, and three specimens from new localities. A differential diagnosis follows, and illustrations of the two species are presented.

P. rapuzzii is easily separated from P. anahitae by the shape of parameres: compared with those of P. anahitae they are much more elongated and narrower in the distal part, almost straight and not curved in dorsal view, the apex is more obliquely truncated ( Figs. 9, 12 ). Moreover, P. rapuzzii differs from P. anahitae in external morphology by the absence of the longitudinal clypeal carina, the clypeus being simply thickened medially (the carina is usually strong in P. anahitae but can nevertheless be obsolete in some small specimens), and by the posterior angles of the pronotum being not marked, whereas they are marked although rounded in P. anahitae .

The females of the two species can be easily recognized by the presence/absence of the clypeal carina ( Figs. 5, 8 ), and, in addition, by the different structure of the apex of the elytra, which is distinctly more pointed in the new species than in P. anahitae . In the same way, the genital valves of the females are clearly different ( Figs. 11, 13 ).

The integument colour of these two species may also provide additional diagnostic characters, but the limited samples we could study do not allow a proper evaluation. To date, P. anahitae is only known from specimens having dark purple to violet-black head and pronotum in both sexes ( Figs. 6–7 ), while the same is green to bright purple in P. rapuzzii males ( Figs. 1–2 ). Females may show less difference in the colour of pronotum (although darker in P. rapuzzii ) but seem to be different for the elytral pattern, bicoloured in P. anahitae and monochromatic in P. rapuzzii .

Despite intraspecific colour variations being common to many Pygopleurus species, Pygopleurus rapuzzii is noteworthy for the sexual dichroism of the head and pronotum and for the black form of the female, which are both unusual among this genus.

DERIVATIO NOMINIS: In homage to Pierpaolo Rapuzzi from Prepotto ( Italy), the collector of the first specimen of this new species that we studied.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 8. 1 – 5: Pygopleurus rapuzzii n. sp.: 1, male (holotype); 2, male (paratype); 3, female (allotype); 4, female (paratype); 5, head of female (allotype). 6 – 8: Pygopleurus anahitae Mitter: 6, male (topotype); 7, female (topotype); 8, head of female (topotype).

FIGURES 9 – 13. 9 – 11: Pygopleurus rapuzzii n. sp.: 9, male, right paramere, lateral view (holotype); 10, male, right paramere, dorsal view (holotype); 11, female, right genital valves (allotype). 12 – 13: Pygopleurus anahitae Mitter: 12, male, right paramere, lateral view (topotype); 13, female, right genital valves (topotype).