Ancognatha aymara Mondaca, 2016

Ratcliffe, Brett C., Cave, Ronald D. & Mondaca, José, 2021, The Dynastine Scarab Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) of Chile, The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (2), pp. 279-309 : 286

Ancognatha aymara Mondaca, 2016 ( Figs. 10–13 )

Ancognatha aymara Mondaca 2016: 60 (original combination).

Redescription. Length 13.0– 20.1 mm; width across humeri 5.5–11.0 mm. Color dorsally and ventrally reddish brown to castaneous, shiny; head, scutellum, anterior and posterior margins of pronotum, and legs brown. Head: Surface with moderately large, dense, glabrous punctures. Clypeus semicircular, apex narrowly rounded, slightly reflexed. Frontoclypeal suture sinuous, obsolete medially. Ocular canthus wide basally, smooth, with sparse setae near apex. Interocular width equals 4.0 transverse eye diameters. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club longer than antennomeres 2–7. Mandibles long, narrow, acute, protruding laterally from clypeus in dorsal view, extending past apex of clypeus. Mentum longer than wide, emarginate apically; surface convex, moderately setose. Pronotum: Surface with small, moderately dense punctures, posterior half weakly furrowed longitudinally. Apical angles subacute, basal angles rounded. Posterior margin lacking marginal bead. Legs: Protibia tridentate, basal tooth slightly removed. Male protarsus enlarged, medial claw enlarged, split at apex; protarsomere 5 long, inter- nal border without teeth. Female protarsus simple. Elytra: Convex, widened in posterior third; surface punctate, glabrous; punctures small, ocellate; elytral suture dark. Pygidium: Surface with small, moderately dense punctures. In lateral view, convex in male, nearly flat in female. Venter: Prosternal process cylindrical, shorter than height of procoxae, apex truncate, covered with dense, long setae. Apex of last abdominal sternite with moderately dense fringe of long, pale yellow setae. Parameres: As in Fig. 12 .

Distribution. Ancognatha aymara occurs in Parinacota Province (Región de Arica y Parinacota) in northern Chile. Specimens collected in northern Argentina, east of Chile’s Región de Antofagasta, were recently reported by Mondaca (2020). The distribution of the species corresponds to the Puna biogeographic province that extends into eastern Bolivia, southern Peru, northern Argentina, and Chile ( Morrone 2001).

Locality Records ( Fig. 13 ). 13 specimens from Mondaca (2016).

REGIÓN DE ARICA Y PARINACOTA (13): PARINACOTA (13): Parinacota, Putre, Socoroma.

Temporal Distribution. February (4), March (7), April (2).

Diagnosis. The male of A. aymara is similar to the male of Ancognatha erythrodera Blanchard but differs from it by its smaller body size, unicolored body, clypeal apex narrowly parabolic, and form of the parameres. The female of A. aymara differs from the female of A. erythrodera by a unicolored body and not having dark spots or dark lines on the midline of the pronotum. Gutiérrez (1950) mistakenly referred to this species as Ancognatha lutea Erichson.

Natural History. Larvae of A. aymara were observed feeding on grass roots (“coiron”, “paja brava”) high in the altiplano steppe (4,200 m) ( Mondaca 2016). The native vegetation at the type locality consists principally of resinous shrubs, herbaceous plants, cacti, and coarse grasses ( Figs. 3–4 ). There are also terraces of some Andean subsistence crops ( Fig. 5 ). Adults are active at night and often attracted to lights in an area of dry hills with grasses and small, sparse shrubs. Adults were collected at 3,000 –3,650 m ( Mondaca 2016).

Figures

Figs. 10–13. Ancognatha aymara. 10) Male; 11) Female; 12) Parameres; 13) Distribution.

Figs. 3–4. Habitat of Ancognatha aymara in Región de Arica y Parinacota, Chile. 3) Hills near Socoroma, 3,200 m; 4) Sector Parinacota, 4,200 m.

Fig. 5. Habitat of Golofa minutus and Ancognatha aymara at Putre (cultivated terraces), Región de Arica y Parinacota, Chile, 3,500 m.