Ataeniopsis rugopygus ( Cartwright, 1974 )

Freese, Edwin L., Veal, Doug A. & Lago, Paul K., 2020, The Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) of Iowa: An annotated checklist, Insecta Mundi 2020 (787), pp. 1-83 : 52

Ataeniopsis rugopygus ( Cartwright, 1974)

Cartwright 1974 (as Ataenius rugopygus : “ Iowa – Casey Collection USNM”); Stebnicka 2003

Collection dates: no date of collection given in literature record.

Initially, we wondered if this record might represent Ataeniopsis figurator (Harold, 1874) , which is known from the central and eastern USA ( Cartwright 1974, Fig. 5 ) and recently eastern Nebraska (M.J. Paulsen, pers. comm., December 2018), but has not yet been collected in Iowa. Ataeniopsis rugopygus is primarily a southwestern species (AZ, NM, TX), with isolated records from central Colorado, southwestern Arkansas and Iowa ( Cartwright 1974). In describing this species, Cartwright examined five specimens from Iowa that were present in the Thomas Lincoln Casey collection and designated as paratypes. These specimens, clearly A. rugopygus , are labeled simply “Ia” with no additional data. Since the species has not been encountered again in Iowa, nor in any neighboring states, we are very skeptical of the record.

Figures

Figures 2–9. Distribution of Scarabaeoidea in Iowa. 2) Odontotaenius disjunctus (Illiger, 1800). 3) Bolbocerosoma bruneri Dawson and McCormick, 1924. 4) Bolbocerosoma confusum Brown, 1928. 5) Bolbocerosoma pusillum Dawson and McCormick, 1924. 6) Odonteus filicornis (Say, 1823). 7) Odonteus liebecki (Wallis, 1928). 8) Odonteus