Gymnetis pudibunda Burmeister, 1866

Iorio, Osvaldo Di, 2014, A review of the natural history of adult Cetoniinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from Argentina and adjacent countries, Zootaxa 3790 (2), pp. 281-318 : 291-292

Gymnetis pudibunda Burmeister, 1866

Figs. 9–18 (natural history)

Gymnetis pudibunda Burmeister, 1866 : Hayward 1942: 14 (natural history); Willemstein 1978: 27 (distribution, natural history, reference).

Paragymnetis pudibunda Burmeister : Hayward 1960: 24 (natural history); Di Iorio 2003: 180 (catalog, distribution, natural history); Di Iorio 2004a: 184 (catalog, natural history, references).

Paragymnetis flavomarginata pudibunda Burmeister : Turienzo & Di Iorio 2008: 29 (predator).

Literature food record. ARGENTINA : Tucumán: locality not stated, “in adult stage feeding leaves of a leguminous plant” (translated from Spanish) ( Hayward 1942, 1960); Leguminosae ( Willemstein 1978).

New food records. ARGENTINA : Chaco: San Bernardo, no date, P. de Maczezuk leg., 2 exx. (ODIC), feeding on ripened figs, Ficus carica , on the plant; Entre Ríos: Paraná, on fruits of Prunus domestica and Pyrus communis (M.L. Ríos de Saluso, personal observation); Buenos Aires: Grand Bourg, 30-XII-2009, Di Iorio leg., 1 ex. (ODIC), feeding on pollen of a male cone of Cycas revoluta (Cycadaceae) ; José C. Paz, summer 2010–2011, 1 ex., feeding on an ripened “black fig”, Ficus carica , on the plant ( Figs. 17–18 ); Reserva Ecológica de Vicente López, 7- I-2012, 1 ex., photograph by Rocío González ( Fig. 15 ), XII-2012 to I-2013, L. Damer & Di Iorio leg., 15 exx. (ODIC) ( Table 1 ), feeding on sap from larval and adult galleries of Megaplatypus mutatus (Chapuis, 1825) ( Coleoptera : Platypodidae ) in boles of Salix humboldtiana (Salicaceae) ( Figs. 9–14, 16 ); without locality and date, 1 ex., feeding on “white figs” ( Fig. 19 ).

Note. A first male cone of Cycas revoluta , produced in the summer 2009–2010, was visited by G. pudibunda alone. A second male cone, produced in the summer 2012–2013, was visited only by Retrachydes thoracicus (Olivier, 1789) ( Coleoptera : Cerambycidae ), 16-I-2013, one female (ODIC). Only one male plant of C. revoluta is known in the country, located in the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria at Castelar, province of Buenos Aires. The plant examined here constitutes the second male known in the country.

Bait-traps. ARGENTINA : Entre Ríos: Liebig, I– II-1997, 30 exx., feeding in banana bait-traps ( Di Iorio 2003), 10-I-1997, Di Iorio leg., 1 ex. (ODIC), feeding in banana bait-trap; Ibicuy, I– II-2012, C. Ufor leg., 2 exx. (CUJCP), 2 exx. (ODIC), feeding in banana bait-traps; Capital Federal: Agronomía, A. Fortino leg., 19-XII-2011, 2 exx. (AFBA), 2-I-2012, 1 ex. (AFBA), I-2013, 12 exx. (AFBA), in banana bait traps; Ciudad Universitaria, summer 2010–2011, Di Iorio leg., 93 exx. (ODIC) ( Table 1 ), XII-2012, 4 exx. (ODIC), in banana bait-traps ( Table 1 ).

Predator. Anumbius annumbi (Vieillot, 1817) (Aves: Furnariidae )

ARGENTINA : Buenos Aires: Campo de Mayo, 5-II-2006, Turienzo & Di Iorio leg., apical fragment of left elytron inside a nest ( Turienzo & Di Iorio 2008), see in Discussion: Adult predators.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 12. Gymnetis chalcipes and G. pudibunda (18 December 2012) feeding on sap from a larval gallery of Megaplatypus mutatus (Coleoptera: Platypodidae) in the bole of Salix humboldtiana (Reserva Ecológica de Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina): Figs. 10 – 11, after a landing on the bole, a second G. chalcipes approaches the sap flow.

FIGURES 13 – 16. Gymnetis pudibunda feeding on sap from adult and larval galleries of Megaplatypus mutatus (Coleoptera: Platypodidae) on the bole of Salix humboldtiana (Reserva Ecológica de Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina): Fig. 13, adult gallery (see the air bubbles located in the entrance of the gallery), together with Compsocerus violaceous (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) (photograph by Lucas Damer, 17 December 2012); Fig. 14, larval gallery, 21 December 2012; Fig. 15, adult gallery together with ants (photograph by Rocío Gonzalez, 7 January 2012); Fig. 16, adult gallery together with G. chalcipes and C. violaceus, 2 January 2013.

FIGURES 17 – 19. Gymnetis pudibunda feeding on ripened fruits on the plants: 17 – 18, on “ black figs ”, together with flies, and black ants Acromyrmex lundi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (José C. Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina, photographs by Alejandro Borquez); 19, on “ white figs ”, together with undetermined ants (locality and author of the photograph unknown, but by the phenotype of G. pudibunda, the photograph was taken in the province of Buenos Aires, see Di Iorio 2013).