Cotalpa conclamara Young, 2002

Young, Ronald M., 2002, A New Cotalpa Burmeister Taken On Post Oak In Eastern Texas With Notes And A Key To Species In The Genus (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 56 (4), pp. 473-479 : 473-477

Cotalpa conclamara Young , new species

Figs. 1–3 , 5

Type Material. Holotype and allotype labeled: ‘‘ Texas : Anderson Co., Engeling Wildlife Management Area , IV­9­1993, E.G. Riley and C.S. Wolfe, flying at dusk near Quercus stellata . ’’ Forty­five paratypes all from the same locality; six males and one female with same data as the type pair; Fifteen males and one female, ‘‘ IV­9–1992, E. Riley and C. Wolfe, mating flight on Quercus stellata , open sandy area.’’ Nine males and two females the same except ‘‘ IV­7­1992, E. Riley and W. Godwin. ’’ One male and one female ‘‘‘ IV­ 9­1993, coll. C.S. Wolfe. ’’ Seven males ‘‘ 7­IV­1992, on post oak at dusk’’ (no collector’s name). Four males, ‘‘north of State Highway 287 c. 15 miles west Palestine, IV­9­1993, 25–30 min flight at dusk, on young leaves of oak, R. M.Young, coll.’’ Two males, ‘‘ Texas, Tyler Co., 4 mi E. Spurger, III­24/25– 1995, A. R. Gillogly, MV / UV light.’’ Two males and one female same as

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holotype except, ‘‘III­25–95. E.G. Riley­55, flying near Quercus stellata at night.’’ One female, ‘‘ Texas: Robertson Co., 5 mi. SE Hearne, IV­21­1995, C. Cate & M. Quinn, UV light.’’

Holotype and allotype deposited in the National Museum of Natural History . Paratypes deposited in the following collections: CAS (2), Texas A & M (6), E. G. Riley (15), C. S. Wolfe (9), W. Gibson (7) and author (12) .

Description. Holotype. Male. Length 21 mm, width across humeri 11.5 mm. Head. Vertex, frons, clypeus shining gold, frons with rose highlights. Surface of frons deeply, coarsely punctate; adjacent to frontoclypeal suture, punctures smaller, more scattered posteriorly, posterior half partially translucent, punctures brownish; frontoclypeal suture slightly raised. Mandible. Ventrally directed tooth not visible externally, with quadrate process on internal edge ( Fig. 3b ). Clypeus. Weakly rugulose, margins weakly reflexed. Ocular canthi. Black, straight with short white erect setae. Antennal club. Equal to combined length of segments 2–7. Pronotum. Shining gold with rose to metallic green reflections. Median half finely, sparsely punctate, lateral one­fourth rugulose with larger, more dense punctures; section near scutellum irregularly translucent. Marginal bead welldefined, metallic green, with long, white, erect setae. Scutellum. Pale yellow with continuous, broad, dark margins. Elytra. Pale, shining testaceous, nearly white adjacent to suture, appearing soft silver in dim light; median two­thirds of each elytron transparent, metathoracic wings showing through. Anterior third of margin slightly explanate. Suture black. Surface punctate throughout, punctures larger than those on pronotum, becoming larger, contiguous in band adjacent to suture, especially posteriorly. Paired striae 1–2 weakly defined anteriorly, paired striae 3–4 clearly defined. Pygidium . bulbous, rugulose. Testaceous, margins greenish­black; rose reflections baso­laterally. Scattered, erect, white setae on anterior half. Sternites. Dark brown. Recumbent white setae along anterior margin of each sternite, setae more dense laterally. Meso­, metasterna metallic green with dense, erect white setae. Legs. femora and tibiae shining opaque gold with green reflections, darker distally; tarsi reddish­brown. Claws chelate, enlarged claws bifid. Protibiae strongly tridentate. Last segment of protarsi greater than 3 times length of other 4 segments including extended claws ( Fig. 1 ). Parameres. Symmetrical ( Fig. 2a ).

Allotype. Female. Length 19.5 mm, width across humeri 11.5 mm. As holotype except as follows: Pygidium . Erect, white setae scattered over entire surface. Sternites. Recumbant white setae on sternite as well as along sutures. Legs. Enlarged claws smaller. Last segment of protarsi 2 times the length of other 4 segments including extended claws.

Variation. Males (45 paratypes): Length 18.75–21.75 mm, width across humeri 8.00–11.00 mm. Unusually homogeneous, minor variations in degree of pronotal and elytral translucence and metallic reflections dorsally and ventrally.

Females (6 paratypes): Length 19.75–21.25 mm, width across humeri 10.00–11.00 mm. Pronotum. Darker, more reddish­brown. Finely punctate throughout, but punctures more dense along anterior half of slightly depressed midline. Elytra. Occasionally much darker posteriorly, approaching a deep reddish­brown at the lateral margins and apical umbones.

Etymology. From the Latin ‘‘conclamare,’’ that is to ‘‘exclaim as a group.’’ This mildly describes the reactions of Charlie Wolfe, Ed Riley, and the author when, having disassembled our long­handled nets because we believed we had missed that evening’s flight, the first Cotalpa rushed by far above our heads.

Biology. The type locality of C. conclamara is a relatively open post oak forest growing on a sandy substrate. A powerful flyer, usually remaining a minimum of 12–15 ft above the ground, this species can be difficult to capture. Flight onset and termination are sudden and complete. Dusk flights took place between April 7–9 in 1992 and 1993 and lasted between 25–30 min. Beetles were observed copulating and feeding on post oak leaves during this period. In 1993, the author saw a few individuals land on an immature post oak approximately 12 ft high where they fed on the succulent spring leaves. The great majority of beetles remained 30 ft or higher on one mature post oak. Of the specimens taken in 1995, two males were collected at MV / UV light and one female at UV light. Four males and a female were collected March 25 and one female on April 21, suggesting that this species has a broader temporal distribution than indicated originally .

It is interesting to note that the type series of C. ashleyae La Rue (20 specimens), taken at artificial lights, is 15% males and 85% females while that of C. conclamara (53 specimens), most collected during a natural flight, is approximately 87% males and 13% females.

Discussion. Cotalpa conclamara shares some characters with specimens described as C. molaris by Casey (1915), including sculpturing on the frons and head and gold to rose highlights on the head and pronotum. Though the latter name was synonymized with C. lanigera (L.) by Saylor (1940), the type series of C. molaris was examined. Saylor’s action was reaffirmed and C. conclamara confirmed as being quite dissimilar from C. lanigera as detailed in key couplet 5.

La Rue (1986) described C. ashleyae from western Arizona. It is readily distinguished from C. conclamara by its relatively narrow asymmetrical parameres ( Fig. 2b ) versus the more bulbous, symmetrical parameres of C. conclamara ( Fig. 2a ).

Saylor (1940) used the presence of a triangular tooth on the center of the mandible to separate C. consobrina Horn from all other species of the genus. I have found that all Cotalpa species have this ventrally directed mandibular tooth, and that the shape and location of the tooth are useful in species determination. The tooth is externally visible in C. ashleyae and C. consobrina and evident only in the dissected mandibles of C. conclamara , C. lanigera , C. flavida and C. subcribata ( Fig. 3 ).

Overall, C. conclamara is most similar to C. subcribata , from which it may be distinguished by the characters in Table 1.

Figures

Fig. 1. Habitus of C. conclamara Young, n. sp. (male).

Fig. 2. Parameres of selected Cotalpa species. a) C. conclamara holotype; b) C. ashleyae (after LaRue 1986); c) C. flavida.

Fig. 3. Left mandibles of Cotalpa species. a) C. ashleyae; b) C. conclamara; c) C. consobrina; d) C. flavida; e) C. lanigera; f) C. subcribata.

Fig. 5. Pronotal posterior angles and lateral margins. a) Obtuse, margins widening, C. lanigera and C. conclamara, holotype; b) right angled, margins parallel, C. subcribata.