Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) cunene Zidek and Pokorný, 2018

Zidek, Jiri & Pokorný, Svatopluk, 2018, New species of the Scarabaeus subgenus Scarabaeolus Balthasar, with a review of the subgenus (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Scarabaeini), Insecta Mundi 611, pp. 1-35 : 7-8

Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) cunene Zidek and Pokorný , sp. n.

Fig. 33–38

Type locality. See label in Fig. 36 . There is no “Dones” in any map available to us. Comparing the nearly closed “U” in CUNENE with that in DONES, we read the word as DUNES. The label does not indicate whether the type locality is north of the Cunene River ( Angola) or south of the river ( Namibia). Angola seems more likely, as in Namibia the usual spelling of the river and northwestern region is Kunene, or the region is called Kaokoveld.

Type material. HTm at TMSA, collected on 25.II.83. No other specimens.

Etymology. Named for the type locality, noun in apposition.

Description. Teneral male 10 mm long, sclerotization of aedeagus incipient. Brown, with head and pronotum darker and semiglossy, elytra lighter brown and glossy, venter brown to brownish black.

Head. Clypeus except for teeth sparsely granulose; teeth longitudinally rugate and lighter-colored than rest of head; medial teeth triangular, sharply pointed, strongly upturned, without ventral keel, spaces between them U-shaped; lateral teeth trapezoid, with frontal sides slanted outward, separated from medial teeth by narrowly U-shaped fissures and from genae by slightly wider V-shaped fissures not extending inward as sutures. Genae with front angles pointed, hind corners obtuse, long yellowish hairs extending from lateral margins. Frons and vertex medially elevated, covered by long whitish, forward-recumbent hairs. Antennal club brownish yellow.

Pronotum. Bordered all around, with wide but indistinct sagittal line that does not reach front and hind margins; disc covered by shallow punctures and sparse whitish hairs, punctures become laterally smaller and asperate; lateral margins evenly rounded and finely serrate; front margin with a setose medial emargination as wide as distance between outer edges of eyes, setae short, pale yellow; base with a very weak medial lobe; front angles sharp, pointing outward; hind corners obligue, indicated only by serration becoming a smooth, narrow rim of base.

Scutellum . Exposed, small, triangular.

Elytra. Parallel-sided, with shallow, punctate striae and shagreened, impunctate intervals; first interval posteriorly convex, other intervals flat; posterior margin bears sparse yellowish hairs.

Pygidium . Bordered all around, finely shagreened, at base and sides finely punctate.

Venter. Metasternum with anterior process keeled, black, tip rounded and delimited by a transverse groove; lateral of process surface brown, finely granulated and with short yellowish hairs; hind part of metasternal plate medially black, laterally darker brown and shagreened. Abdominal ventrites shagreened, with short brownish hairs confined to lateral margins.

Legs. Protibia markedly incurved between second and third tooth, spaces between teeth even, finely serrate, serration present also proximal of basal tooth; medial edge microcrenulate, with dense brush of long dark hairs; ventral surface devoid of any sculpture (no carina or striola), dorsal surface with a near-medial striola of fine punctures bearing long dark hairs. Profemur proximally with a long, sharp, anteriorly pointing spine. Mesotibia with two spurs and two transverse carinae. Metatibia with two transverse carinae and dense black hairs through much of length on both lateral and medial sides. Meso- and metafemora with anterior and posterior rows of hair-bearing punctures and markedly inflated distal parts.

Aedeagus with parameres and phallobase of equal length; parameres without ventral tooth, their tips inflated (in dorsal view) and with short ventral beaks (in lateral view).

Comparison. The shape of the lateral clypeal teeth and their wide separation from the genae distinguish S. cunene sp. n. from all other species of the subgenus, but several other features suggest a relationship to S. rubripennis ( Fig. 13–16 ) that occurs more to the south in central and southern Namibia. These two species share the presence of profemoral spine and absence of aedeagal ventral tooth, and apart from the unique shape of lateral clypeal teeth differ only in details such as elytral color (although some S. rubripennis can have the elytra as brownish as S. cunene ), shape of the profemoral spine (longer and more slender in S. cunene ), slightly more proximal position of the protibial inward curvature (in S. rubripennis opposite the second tooth), and aedeagal proportions (in S. rubripennis parameres longer than phallobase). Other differences may be due to the teneral condition of the S. cunene holotype, but the presence of protibial serration and microcrenulation indicates that the lack of protibial dorso- and ventromedial carinae is most likely a real and unique character.

Figures

Figures 33–38. Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) cunene sp. n., HTm, 10 mm. 33) Dorsal habitus. 34) Ventral habitus. 35) Head leveled horizontal. 36) Locality label. 37) Aedeagus, dorsal. 38) Aedeagus, left lateral.

Figures 9–16. Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) spp. 9–12) Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) lizleri sp. n., HTm, 15 mm. 9) Dorsal habitus. 10) Ventral habitus. 11) Aedeagus, dorsal. 12) Aedeagus, left lateral. 13–16) Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) rubripennis (Boheman), 14 mm. 13) Dorsal habitus. 14) Ventral habitus. 15) Aedeagus, dorsal. 16) Aedeagus, left lateral.