Aegidium borrei Paulian, 1984

Frolov, Andrey V., Akhmetova, Lilia A. & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z., 2017, Revision of the mainland species of the Neotropical genus Aegidium Westwood (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae), Journal of Natural History 51 (19 - 20), pp. 1035-1090 : 1065-1066

Aegidium borrei Paulian, 1984

( Figure 5 (a–d))

Aegidium borrei Paulian 1984: 80

Type locality

Colombia, Cundinamarca, Bogotá.

Type material examined

Holotype: male at MNHN labeled ‘ Bogota / Aegidium borrei n.sp. R. Paulian det./MUSEUM PARIS/HOLOTYPE’.

Diagnosis

Aegidium borrei is similar to Ae. varians sp. nov. but differs in having a tuft of setae on the metatibiae ( Figure 5 (b)). This diagnosis, however, is incomplete because it is based on a single male specimen lacking the aedeagus and having weakly developed prothoracic armature (see remarks below).

Redescription

Male, holotype ( Figure 5 (a–d)). Body length 19.0 mm. Colour uniformly blackish brown.

Anterior margin of frontoclypeus slightly convex in middle, slightly sinuate each side of medial convexity, rounded laterally, without border. Frontoclypeus punctate with rounded to slightly elongate punctures separated by less than a puncture diameter.

Eye width about 1/8 distance between eyes in dorsal view.

Pronotum with widely rounded lateral margins, slightly narrower than elytra, 1.5 times wider than length, 0.54 times length of elytra. Posterior angles narrowly rounded. Anterior margin not bordered. Base of pronotum not bordered, with irregular row of large, rounded, punctures separated by about 1 puncture diameter. Pronotal disc feebly excavated. Lateral pronotal processes feebly developed, low, with tubercle-shaped apices. Punctation of pronotum relatively dense on sides and sparser on median excavation and at each side of lateral processes; most punctures have slightly raised margins giving punctures somewhat crater-shaped appearance.

Scutellum narrow, rounded apically, about 1/12 length of elytra.

Elytra 1.2 times longer than wide, with humeral and apical umbones, widest in basal 1/3, tapering apically in dorsal view. Carinae distinct. Elytra covered with relatively sparse punctures (separated by 1–2 puncture diameters); punctures smaller and sparser on lateral sides and apices, and denser and elongate on disc.

Macropterous.

Mesotibiae with tuft of dense, long, fine setae ventroapically. Inner apical spur of mesotibia as long as basal mesotarsomere and not curved downwards ( Figure 5 (b)).

Cranial part of spiculum gastrale wide, tapering in apical 1/3 ( Figure 5 (c)).

Female unknown.

Distribution

Ae. borrei is known only from the type locality in Colombian Andes ( Figure 5 (d)).

Remarks

This species was described from a single male and no additional specimens were available. Paulian (1984) noted that it differed from Ae. cribratum and Ae. colombianum in the less-developed lateral prothoracic processes and in its larger size, and from Ae. asperarum in the wider body with more developed dorsal sculpture. These characters, however, are not diagnostic. By the general appearance and the shape of the spiculum gastrale the holotype of Ae. borrei is similar to Ae. varians sp. nov. The holotype lacks the aedeagus, and the drawing of its paramere given by Paulian (1984, fig. 36) is too schematic to compare it with the parameres of Ae. varians sp. nov. However, the latter species differs in the absence of a tuft of setae in the metatibiae – the character considered species-specific in Aegidium (see diagnosis of the genus). From another Andean species with similar tuft on metatibiae, Ae. onorei sp. nov., Ae. borrei differs in the sculpture of the pronotum and the shape of the spiculum gastrale.

Figures

Figure 5. Aegidium borrei, holotype male. Habitus in dorsal view (a), apex of metatibiae (b), spiculum gastrale (c), locality map (d).