Sisyphus fasciculatus Boheman 1857

Daniel, Gimo M., Davis, Adrian Lv., Sole, Catherine L. & Scholtz, Clarke H., 2020, Taxonomic review of the tribe Sisyphini sensu stricto Mulsant, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in southern Africa, including new species descriptions, Insect Systematics & Evolution 51 (1), pp. 1-61 : 13-15

Sisyphus fasciculatus Boheman 1857 ( Figs. 2 , 3C )

Boheman 1857: 192; Harold 1869: 984; Péringuey 1902: 101–106, Arrow 1927: 465; Haaf 1955: 376; Ferreira 1972: 799; Davis et al, 2008: 154; Montreuil 2015c: 3, 11.

Type locality: Caffraria

Size: Male: length: 9.4– 7 mm, width: 5.7– 3.5 mm. Female: length: 9.0–7.0 mm, width 5.6– 3.5 mm.

Diagnosis: S. fasciculatus is similar to S. muricatus and S. neobornemisszanus , but differs from these two species by bearing tufts of dense setae on the pronotum, which alternate with bare patches of short setae.

Examined type material

Holotype (photograph): (♀ NHRS): / Caffraria /, / J. Wahlb /, / type /, brown label, handwritten / fasciculatus Bohem /; red label / Typus: Sisyphus fasciculatus , det. Dr. E. Haaf, 1954/, /311:72/, /247:73/; /9415 E92 +/, brown label, handwritten / fasciculatus Boh /, /NHRS-SRAH 000000228/ .

Examined non-type material: See Supplementary information.

Distribution: S. fasciculatus occurs in South Africa and Swaziland where it is a shade specialist ( Davis et al. 1999). It is associated with riverine and lower hillside forest to dense partially shaded woodland thickets, particularly, on the eastern escarpment of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, west KwaZulu Natal and Swaziland. However, it also occurs in the warmer inland parts of the Maputaland Coastal Forest Mosaic ecoregion of Olson et al. (2001) southwards to the northernmost extent of the KwaZulu-Pondoland Coastal Forest Mosaic ( Fig. 4 ).

Conservation status: Although currently assessed as Least Concern (LC), S. fasciculatus is a potentially threatened species, due to the loss of forest and shaded woodland

across its fairly restricted range ( Davis 2013a). However, the species has been recorded in reserves where shaded vegetation is protected, such as in Hluhluwe, Umfolozi and Ithala Game Reserves (KwaZulu Natal) as well as Mlawula Nature Reserve ( Swaziland). Because of this protection, it can be locally abundant in both coastal reserves and along the lower part of the northern escarpment of the Drakensberg.

Figures

Fig. 2. Images of the habitus of the muricatus species-group: A. S. muricatus; B. S. neobornemisszanus; C. S. fasciculatus; D. S. perissinottoi; E. S. manni; F. S. swazi sp. n. G. S. alveatus. I. Fully developed hind wing, which is typical to most of Sisyphus species in southern Africa H. Brachypterous hind wing of S. alveatus. J. Sclerite represents a reduced hind wing of S. swazi sp. n.

Fig. 3. Images of the aedeagi of the muricatus species-group: A. S. muricatus; B. S. neobornemisszanus; C. S. fasciculatus; D. S. perissinottoi; E. S. manni; F. S. swazi sp. n; G. S. alveatus.

Fig. 4. Distribution map for the muricatus species-groups.