Pentodon variolopunctatus deserti ( Heyden, 1900 ), 1879

Bunalski, Marek & Śmiełowski, Jan, 2020, Review of African Species of the Genus Pentodon Hope, 1837 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Pentodontini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 74 (3), pp. 547-554 : 551-552

Pentodon variolopunctatus deserti ( Heyden, 1900) ( Fig. 9 )

Heteronychus deserti Heyden 1900: 253 .

Pentodon milini Mikšić 1962: 23 .

Morphology. Length 14–18 mm. Body strongly convex, black, and shiny. Clypeus triangular, densely and coarsely punctate; anterior edge equipped with two small teeth that are very approximate, sometimes almost overlapping, lateral edges carinate. Frontoclypeal suture raised, with two approximate tubercles in the middle. Frons punctured similarly to clypeus; vertex smooth posteriorly. Pronotum carinate along anterior and lateral edges. Disc of pronotum distinctly punctate, densely punctate and wrinkled anteriorly, punctation decreasing posteriorly. Front tibia with four external teeth—two apical teeth and, significantly separated from these, two teeth at tibial midlength; tibial spines well delineated. Scutellar shield triangular, smooth. Striae of elytra flat and very distinctly punctate, interstriae densely and deeply punctate, fine punctation also present. Pygidium triangular, moderately convex, with two tubercles anterior to middle; densely punctate and wrinkled anteriorly, distinctly less densely toward apex.

Male Genitalia. Parameres almost rhomboid at the base, broadened in a tubercle-shaped manner at midlength, apices strongly broadened triangularly and their posterolateral angles acutely extended backwards ( Fig. 9 ).

Distribution ( Fig. 11G ). TUNISIA: El Hamma, Gabes, Gafsa, Thelepte; LIBYA: Al-Bajda, Bir al Gharbi, Darnah, Wadi Fruten; EGYPT: Cairo.

Figures

Figs. 6–10. Dorsal view of Pentodon parameres (modified from Baraud 1985). 6) P. bidens punctatus; 7) P. bidens sulcifrons; 8) P. idiota memnon; 9) P. variolopunctatus deserti; 10) P. v. variolopunctatus.

Fig. 11. Distribution of Pentodon species in Africa. D) P. bidens punctatus, E) P. bidens sulcifrons, F) P. idiota memnon, G) P. variolopunctatus deserti, H) P. v. variolopunctatus.