Wattius asperulus (Pascoe) Smith, Aaron D. & Sanchez, Lucio A., 2015

Smith, Aaron D. & Sanchez, Lucio A., 2015, Revision of the West Indian Wattius Kaszab (Tenebrionidae, Toxicini, Eudysantina) with lectotype designations for Pascoe's South American species, ZooKeys 537, pp. 111-130 : 114

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Tenebrionidae

Wattius asperulus (Pascoe) new status Figures 5-6

Calymmus asperulus Pascoe, 1871: 350

Type material.

LECTOTYPE, here designated, (male) labeled: on pink oval (a) “Colombia”; (b) " Calymmus / asperulus / Type Pasc"; (c) on white circle with orange border “Type”; (d) "Pascoe. / Coll. / 93 –60.”; (e) on blue paper "Tenebrionid Base / Aaron D. Smith / Catalog # 14322"; (f) on red paper, "LECTOTYPE / Calymmus / asperulus Pascoe / det. ADSmith 2015" (BMNH).

Additional material examined.

Two specimens, both from Colombia. One female labeled “P’to. Berrio / Ant. Colomb" (FMNH) and one male labeled “Colombia” (HNHM).

Diagnosis.

Wattius asperulus can be separated from Wattius cucullatus and the West Indian members of the genus based on the following character combination: Frontoclypeal suture strongly incised, frons shallowly depressed anterior to eyes and raised into near vertical ridge above eyes to cranial apex; pronotal horn strongly produced, apex expanded and spatulate in males, prosternal process raised behind coxae; wings fully developed, meso- and metacoxae separated by more than mesocoxal width; femora lacking smooth rounded callosities; outer margins of tibia flat with two indistinct rows of callosities, apical spine present on all tibia in males, all male femora lacking rounded protuberances.

Discussion.

Wattius asperulus was synonymized under Wattius cucullatus by Champion (1886). Champion’s rationale was that the separation between Wattius cucullatus and Wattius asperulus could not be maintained based on the variability displayed in the specimens, which ranged from Mexico to Argentina, available to him. However, a large series of BMNH specimens identified as Wattius cucullatus by Champion, and corresponding to many of the localities listed in the Biologia Centrali-Americana, represents an estimated seven Wattius species that are only now being described (Smith in prep.).