Euphoria discicollis ( Thomson, 1878 )

Orozco, Jesús, 2012, Monographic Revision of the American Genus Euphoria Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae), The Coleopterists Bulletin (mo 11) 66, pp. 1-182 : 102-103

Euphoria discicollis ( Thomson, 1878)

(Appendix 4: Fig. 58 )

Stephanucha discicollis Thomson 1878: 28 . Original combination.

Holotype at MNHN, examined.

Stephanucha discicollis var. atrata Thomson 1878: 28 . Synonym.

Holotype at MNHN, examined.

Euphoria aestuosa Horn 1880: 398 . Synonym.

Holotype at MCZ, examined.

Description (n = 31). Length 9.2–14.1 mm; width 5.6–8.4 mm. Color: Dorsal surface shiny; head, scutellum, mesepimera, and pygidium black, rest of body yellowish brown. Pronotum with black area on disc frequently covering most of pronotal surface; 1 small black spot frequently present at each side. Elytral suture, apical umbone, scutellar area, and humeral umbone frequently black. Ventral surface shiny, black to dark brown. Melanistic forms observed. Head: Frons densely punctate, strigose, or strigopunctate, punctures small to moderate, round, deeply impressed, frequently coalescent, sparsely to heavily setose; setae moderate to long, whitish to yellowish. Clypeal surface densely punctate, strigose, or strigopunctate, punctures moderate to large, round, glabrous to densely setose; setae yellowish to whitish, short to long. Clypeus subtrapezoidal to subquadrate, lateral margins vaguely to weakly raised, apex weakly reflexed. Labium thickened anteriorly. Antennal stem longer in males than in females, club about as long as head in males, half or less in females. Pronotum: Surface punctation moderately dense, punctures lunulate, small to moderate in size, weakly to densely setose; setae short to moderate, yellowish. Base strongly rounded in front of scutellum. Scutellum longer than wide, impunctate or with a few small punctures. Elytra: Costae obsolete to subobsolete. Apex strongly rounded, surface glabrous to densely setose, punctures moderately dense; punctures round to lunulate, small, organized in longitudinal lines through disc. Surface glabrous to sparsely setose; setae minute to short, whitish to yellowish. Pygidium: Surface subconcentrically striate, striae discontinuous, moderately impressed, frequently polished at middle, weakly to moderately setose; setae moderate to long, yellowish. Strongly convex. Legs: Protibial teeth strongly developed, equidistant. Mesotibial carina strongly developed. Metatibiae apically expanded; internal spur frequently longer and lanceolate. Claws thin, longer than last tarsomere. Venter: Mesometasternal process strongly compressed, short, not extending anteriorly beyond the level of mesocoxae, mostly setose. Median sulcus weakly to moderately impressed. Abdomen strongly cylindrical, convex in females. Abdominal sternites weakly setose laterally, weakly setose to glabrous medially; setae moderate to long, whitish to yellowish, distributed along entire width of segments. Male genitalia: Parameres as in Fig. 58c .

Notes. Godwin (2000) found different color forms, including reddish specimens, in Texas. Only yellowish brown and black specimens were present in the material examined.

Taxonomic History. Thomson (1878) described the species in the genus Stephanucha based on one specimen from “America boreal” deposited in the Dejean collection (for a discussion of the possible origin of this specimen, see Hardy [1980]). Horn (1880) described a melanistic female specimen from Kansas as Euphoria aestuosa . Casey (1915) treated E. aestuosa in the subgenus Haplophoria together with E. eximia and E. kernii . Blackwelder (1939), following Chapin (in litt.), placed it in the genus Euphoriaspis . Hardy (2001) placed E. discicollis in his pulchella group together with E. kernii and E. pulchella , and synonymized E. aestuosa and E. discicollis var. atrata with it.

Natural History. Adults have been found in ant nests, rodents nests, feces, malt-baited pitfall traps, and at black lights. Adult and immature specimens have been found in fecal chambers of Geomys breviceps Baird ( Hardy 1980; Godwin 2000), G. bursarius ( Godwin 2000) , and G. pinetus ( Skelley and Gordon 2001) . Godwin (2000) indicated this species also occurs outside the ranges of the listed Geomys species and is expected to be found in the nests of other gopher species. Walter et al. (1938) collected some specimens 2.5 m deep inside the debris chamber of Atta texana (Buckley) in Texas. According to Godwin (2000), one specimen in the Salsbury collection (Kansas) was collected in a nest of Dipodomys sp. ( Rodentia : Heteromyidae ) in Kansas. This record seems plausible to me (contra Godwin 2000). Species of Euphoria are generally opportunistic and take advantage of available resources. Adults of E. discicollis have been found breeding in ant or rodent nests, but the immature stages are yet to be described.

Temporal Distribution. January (4), March (7), April (1), May (6) ( Fig. 58f ).

Geographic Distribution. K no w n f r om t h e United States in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas ( Fig. 58g ).

Specimens Examined (31). Ty p e m a t e r i a l: Euphoria discicollis Thomson, 1878 ; holotype at MNHN labeled “ Cetonia / discicollis [illegible]/ h. in Amer. bor I Leconte// Ex Musaeo/ JAMES THOMSON// Discicollis/ (Dej.) Thoms/ Type T. C. 28// Th./ TYPE/ TYPE” and my holotype label. Euphoria atrata Thomson, 1878 ; headless holotype at MNHN labeled “ Cetonia / atrata/ h in Amer. bor O. Leconte// th/ TYPE// Atrata/ (Dej) Thoms. Type/ T. C. 28/ Am. b// Ex Musaeo/ Dejean// Ex Musaeo/ JAMES THOMSON// TYPE” and my holotype label. Euphoria aestuosa Horn, 1880 ; holotype female at MCZ labeled “KS.// E./ aestuosa/ Horn// MCZ/ Type/ 34490// TYPE No. 3707/ Euphoriae/ aestuosa/ G.H.Horn”. Other material: USA (28): ARKANSAS. Cleburne Co.: Heber Springs (2). FLORIDA. Bay Co.: Betts (2); Santa Rosa Co. : Harold (6). GEORGIA. Baker Co.: Newton (2); Dodge Co.: Gresston (2). KANSAS. Gove Co.: No data (1); Kiowa Co.: Greensburg (1); No data: “ Kansas ” (1). LOUISIANA. Grant Pa.: Dry Prong (5). OKLAHOMA. Cleveland Co.: Norman (1); Payne Co.: Stillwater (1). TEXAS. Angelina Co. : Lufkin (1); Kendall Co.: Boerne (1); Nacogdoches Co.: Nacogdoches (1). NO DATA: (1).

Figures

Fig. 58. Euphoria discicollis. a) Habitus, b) Head, c) Parameres, d, e) Color variation, f) Temporal distribution, g) Geographic distribution in the United States.