Liogenys kuntzeni Moser, 1921

Cherman, Mariana A., Basílio, Daniel S., Mise, Kleber M., Frisch, Johannes, Smith, Andrew B. T. & Almeida, Lúcia M., 2020, Liogenys Guérin-Méneville, 1831 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from the southern South American Transition Zone and boundaries: taxonomic overview with four new species, Zootaxa 4896 (1), pp. 46-84 : 59-62

Liogenys kuntzeni Moser, 1921

Figs. 5 , 11 E–F, 14

Liogenys kuntzeni Moser, 1921: 139 ; Blackwelder 1944: 227 (checklist); Gutiérrez 1949: 20 (geographic records); Gutiérrez 1951: 132, 134 (key, redescription); Frey 1969: 48 (key); Evans 2003: 210 (checklist); Evans & Smith 2009: 178 (checklist); Krajčík 2012: 145 (checklist); Cherman et al. 2016: 759 (systematics); Cherman et al. 2017: 4, 16 (generic history, taxonomy).

Type material. Male holotype of Liogenys kuntzeni (ZMHB) : [white typeset] “ Chili ”, [white handwritten] “ Liogenys / kuntzeni / Typen / Mos”, [red typeset] “Typus”, [white typeset] “ Liogenys / kuntzeni / Mos.”, genitalia mounted.

Non-type material (53). CHILE. Valparaíso: Algarrobo , I.1987,L. Peña, 2males ( INPA) ; 21.VII.1951, [33°22’S, 71°40’W], Kuschel & L.E. Peña, 1 male ( FMNH) ; NW Algarrobo. Mirasol , 22.I.1978, L. Peña, 1 male ( INPA) ; NW Algarrobo. Mirasol , 12.I.1975, [33°19’26.93’’S, 71°38’48.88’’W], NW Algarrobo. Mirasol, 12.I.1975, P. Vidal, 6 males and 1 female; NW Algarrobo. Mirasol, 16.I.1975, 4 males and 2 females ( FMNH) ; Horcones , [32°43’12’’S, 71°29’24’’W], 19. II.1963, L.E. Peña, 2 males ( FMNH) , Viña del Mar , [33°1’30.78’’S, 71°33’3.73’’W], 1–31.X.1975, Herrera, 3 males ( UMCE) ; Zapallar, Cachagua , II.1977, Alcaino, 1 male ( MNNC) ; Llay-Llay , [33°51’S, 70°58’W], 1–30.XI.1934, without collector; 1 male ( MNHN) ; San Antonio, [32°53’S, 71°15’W], without date and collector, 1 male ( NHMUK) ; Santiago: San Cristobal, without date, Zapata, 3 males ( UMCE) ; La Dehesa, I.1975; without collector, 1 specimen; El Principal , IX.1953, L.E. Peña, 1 female ( FMNH) ; [Refugio] Lo Valdés. Cajón del Maipo , 16.I.2005, 2200 m, Ramirez, 1 male ( MNNC) ; Maule: Curicó, Cajón de Teno [near Quilpoco], 3.I.1980, 2000 m, J. R. Barriga, 2 males ( USNM) ; Talca , Rio Maule, 2.X–2.XI.1956, 1400 m, L.E. Peña, 1 male ( FMNH) ; Los Cipreses [Romeral], 14.I.1968, 1000 m, L.E. Peña, 2 males, 1 female ( CMNC) ; Ñuble : 50 km E San Carlos [Punilla Provence, near San Fabián], 26.XII.1950, Ross & Michelbacher, 1 male ( NHMB) ; Biobío: Laguna del Laja [Los Ángeles], 16.I.1987, L. Peña, 3 males and 1 female ( INPA) ; 2.I.1987, Perez de Arce , 1 female ( MNNC) ; Abanico , I. 1948, 800 m, without collector, 3 males ( CMNC, MNNC, NHMB) ; XI.1948, without collector, 1 male ( MNNC) ; 10.I.1948, G. Kuschel, 1 male ( MZUC) ; Los Barros , I.1948, 1800 m, G. Kuschel, 1 male. ( MNNC) ; Concepción , 15.XII.1962, Fetes, 1 male ( CNCI) ; Concepción. Hualqui , 23.XII.1944, C. Junge, 3 males ( USNM) .

Diagnosis. Body light brown, elongate, sides parallel in males, slightly wider on posterior third in females; pronotum slightly darker and shinier than elytra ( Fig. 5A ); elytra bearing inconspicuous bristles, more visible on the outer ridge and lateral margins; clypeal emargination deep, subangulate, and very wide; clypeal lateral margin straight in males, slightly convex in females; antenna with 10 antennomeres; posterior corners subangulate ( Fig. 5B ); males with two protibial teeth, sometimes with a vestigial basal tooth such as in females; mesotibia cylindrical in cross section and somewhat flattened, males with one transverse carina complete ( Fig. 5D ), females with two transverse carinae, the apical carina complete; pygidium slightly convex; subtrapezoidal, pygidial disc smooth and with sparse, random bristles ( Fig. 5C ); males with inner margin of metatibia weakly carinate present only on apical portion ( Fig. 5E ); parameres with apex lanceolate, forming and ear-like wing laterally ( Fig. 5F ).

Redescription. Length: 8.8–9.9 mm; width: 4.5–5.0 mm. Light brown. Head. distance between eyes slightly more than twice the width of one eye; frons swollen, equal in length to clypeus; clypeal emargination deep, wide and subangulate, in males almost as wide as the distance between eyes; outer sides of anterior teeth subparallel or following the lateral margin of clypeus, lateral margin straight in males, convex in females; in males teeth of clypeus longer and more defined ( Fig. 11E ) than in females ( Fig. 11F ); distal maxillary palpomere, maximum width less than two times the apical width; fovea deep, not reaching the transverse midline of the palpomere; antenna with 10 antennomeres, club lighter in color than funicle. Thorax: anterior margin of pronotum slightly produced medially; pronotum anteriorly slightly narrowed forming a depressed ring; pronotal disc with punctures coarse and sparse; posterior corners subangulate; hypomere with long and short bristles; mesepisternum, sides of metaventrite and metacoxae with bristles; distance between mesocoxae and metacoxae twice that of metacoxa width; scutellum rounded, smooth or with a few punctures. Elytra: shiny, with inconspicuous bristles disposed randomly; elytral suture and elytron unicolored, elevated; all four elytral ridges barely noticeable. Legs: procoxa barely scaly and punctate; males with two protibial teeth, sometimes with a weakly defined third basal tooth such as in females, middle and apical teeth equal in size, all three teeth equally spaced; mesotibia cylindrical and somewhat flattened in cross section, mesotibial surface finely sculptured; males with one mesotibial transverse carina only posteriorly, females with two transverse carinae, the apical carina complete; inner margin of metatibia not carinate in males or females; surface finely sculptured; metatibia with two transverse carinae, the apical carina complete, more defined in females; metatibial apical spurs of different lengths, the longer spur equal to the diameter of the tibial apex; metatarsomere I in males slightly shorter and equal in width to metatarsomere II, in females metatarsomere I and metatarsomere II approximately equal in length; in males protarsomeres and mesotarsomeres I–IV enlarged, protarsomere II elongate; mesotarsomeres less enlarged than the protarsomeres; claw bifid, symmetrical, superior tooth of claw longer and slightly wider than the inferior tooth; distance between teeth slightly longer than the length of inferior tooth. Abdomen: ventrites with a few bristles on the disc; propygidium with bristles; pygidium slightly con-vex; subtrapezoidal, as long as it is wide; pygidial width not exceeding distance between spiracles of propygidium; pygidial disc smooth and with a few scattered bristles; pygidial apex subquadrate. Parameres: basal region as wide as both sections of the parameres at its maximum width, parameral split at 2/3 the length of the basal region; inner margins convex; apex lanceolate-like, base of apex with outer margin widely expanded, forming an ear-like flap; parameres in lateral view straight, not coplanar ( Fig. 5G ).

Type locality. CHILE .

Geographical distribution. CHILE (Valparaiso, Santiago, Maule, Ñuble, Biobío) .

Remarks. Liogenys kuntzeni differs from the other Liogenys in the following combination of characters: clypeal emargination angulate (sometimes worn out and if so, subangulate); metatibia with one transverse carina complete in males and females (different from L. flaveola and L. calcarata , males with carina absent or incomplete, respectively); males with two protibial teeth instead of three (as in L. flavida ), but in some specimens a vestigial third basal tooth was found; and inner margin of metatibia very weakly carinate, present on apical portion. Liogenys kuntzeni could be also misidentified with L. lucialmeidae new species and L. martinezi new species (see remarks of both new species). Frey (1969) mentioned Río Negro ( Argentina) as a locality record, but this record was not verified. Evans (2003) and Evans & Smith (2009) excluded the Argentina record in their catalog, because it is not reliable and needs to be verified with voucher specimens. An Argentinian male specimen from Neuquén, Pilmatué [Laguna Pimatué], Co. [Cerro] Huayilon [-38.25, -70.3833333] 1500 m Gentili, I.1968) was found at the CMNC. Many features match with L. kuntzeni , including the protibia with two teeth, metatibia with one transverse carina complete; and the apex of the parameres with ear-shaped expansions. However, in this specimen these expansions are shorter than expected in L. kuntzeni , which is more similar to L. martinezi new species, but without the pruinose elytra. Due to the uncertainty we decided not to consider this specimen as a new record of L. kuntzeni . The eastern strip of the Andean Maule province is located along western Neuquén ( Argentina), so it should not be surprising to find L. kuntzeni in this region. More collecting events are required to confirm if L. kuntzeni occurs there.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Liogenys kuntzeni Moser, 1921, male holotype views:A) dorsal, B) clypeus and pronotum, C) pygidium, D) lateral, E) meso- and metatibia, and parameres views: F) dorsal, G) lateral.

FIGURE 11. Dimorphism in clypeus. Liogenys flaveola Moser, 1924: A) male, B) female; L. flavida Moser, 1918: C) male, D) female; L. kuntzeni Moser, 1921: E) male, F) female; L. rufoflava Moser, 1918: G) male, H) female.