Epirinus inparrugosus Deschodt & Davis, 2019

Deschodt, Christian M., Davis, Adrian L. V. & Daniel, Gimo M., 2019, The endemic Southern African genus Epirinus Dejean, 1833 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) revisited: five new species and two new synonyms, Zootaxa 4603 (2), pp. 327-340 : 334-335

Epirinus inparrugosus Deschodt & Davis , new species

Figs. 1B , 5 .

Type material: Holotype. Female: S.Afr., Swartberge | Blesberg-W, 1850m | 33.24S 22.40E || 17.12.1978, E- Y:1537, groundtraps,75 days | leg. Endrödy-Younga || groundtraps with faeces bait || ( TMSA) . Paratype. 1 female: S.Afr., Swartberge | Blesberg-W, 1820m | 33.25S 22.40E || 17.12.1978,E-Y:1535 | groundtraps,75 days | leg. Endrödy-Younga || groundtraps with meat bait || Paratypus | EPIRINUS | rugosus sp. n. | Scholtz and Howden ( TMSA) .

Description of the holotype, female. Body: 7.6 x 4.4 mm (length with head extended x maximum width) Medium and somewhat flattened. Head: Clypeal teeth medium, pointing upwards; and separated by a rounded indentation that is slightly more the length of the teeth; very small notch on lateral margin where genal suture terminates; frontal suture effaced; clypeal surface densely punctate with very few irregular setae; eyes narrowing posteriorly; antennae dark.

Pronotum: Surface shagreened and densely punctate with round punctures and a few short black setae; shallow medial basal depression with punctures terminating into a short puncture free line, no lateral foveae.

Elytra: Striae distinct, punctate, with clear double margins; interstriae with small granules and irregular short black setae.

Pygidium: Shagreened with irregular, short, black, recurved setae; ventrite densely punctate.

Venter: Metaventrite punctures large and almost touching posteriorly, becoming smaller and more separated anteriorly; mesoventrite punctures irregularly shaped and arranged, almost touching.

Male genitalia: Not available.

Etymology: In the species name, the Latinised prefix “ inpar” translates to “unequal” in English.

Diagnosis: This species is very similar to E. rugosus . However, E. inparrugosus new species can be readily identified by its round, slightly-separated, pronotal punctures. In E. rugosus , the pronotal punctures are irregularly shaped and touching one another. Furthermore, E. inparrugosus new species shows a mountain distribution in the Swartberg of the Eastern Cape compared to E. rugosus that shows a range in the Cedarberg of the Western Cape.

Remarks: The single paratype had been previously designated as a paratype of E. rugosus . It is clearly not E. rugosus and belongs to this new species.

Distribution, ecology, conservation status, and potential threats: This species is probably restricted to the Swartberg mountain range where it has been recorded in the Fynbos Biome. Based on limited distribution data, E. inparrugosus new species is assessed as data deficient (DD). However, it is well protected in the Swartberg East Nature Reserve and an adjacent cluster of reserves in the Swartberg.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus, dorsal view. A, Epirinus muellerae Deschodt & Davis, new species, B, Epirinus inparrugosus Deschodt & Davis, new species, C, Epirinus pseudorelictus Deschodt & Davis, new species, D, Epirinus schoolmeestersi Deschodt & Davis, new species and E, Epirinus jacobsae Deschodt & Davis, new species.

FIGURE 5. The collecting localities for the new species described in this paper. Epirinus jacobsae Deschodt & Davis, new species (Δ), Epirinus inparrugosus Deschodt & Davis, new species (-), Epirinus pseudorelictus Deschodt & Davis, new species (•), Epirinus muellerae Deschodt & Davis, new species (Ɨ) and Epirinus schoolmeestersi Deschodt & Davis, new species (*). The updated known distribution of Epirinus davisi (•), with the type locality of its junior synonyms, Epirinus hluhluwensis (at Hluhluwe Game Reserve) and Epirinus ngomae (at Ngome Forest), highlighted. Two specimens of probable undescribed species with affinities to Epirinus pygidialus Scholtz & Howden, 1987, are shown as Ɨ.