Hadrosticta viridiflua Kraatz, 1892

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2014, A Review of the Neotropical GeneraAstroscaraSchürhoff, 1937, ChiriquibiaBates, 1889, HadrostictaKraatz, 1892, JansoniaSchürhoff, 1937, MacrocraniusSchürhoff, 1935, andTiaroceraBurmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 68 (3), pp. 363-376 : 368-370

Hadrosticta viridiflua Kraatz, 1892 ( Figs. 11–15 )

Hadrosticta viridiflua Kraatz 1892: 378 (original combination). Holotype male (not female as indicated by Kraatz) at DEIC, examined. Type locality: “ Central Amerika ”.

Description. Length 14.5–17.2 mm; width across humeri 8.4–9.7 mm. Color of dorsum an opaque, enameled, or weakly metallic bright green or yellowish green with infusions of ochre or orange on head, lateral margins of pronotum, elytra, and pygidium; numerous, irregularly spaced, large black or reddish brown spots surround many punctures; venter similar but more metallic and with additional bluish green color (depending on angle of illumination); all margins of head piceous to black; legs piceous and suffused with green, bluish green, or blue (depending on angle of illumination); abdominal ventrites 2–5 each with central, piceous to black, round to transverse spot. Head: Surface slightly convex. Frons with small, sparse, irregularly spaced, setigerous punctures, each puncture surrounded by large, round, black or reddish brown spot, spots often coalescing; setae minute, tawny. Clypeal surface with minute to small, sparse to moderately dense punctures; apex bilobed, each lobe broadly rounded, not reflexed. Eyes moderate in size, interocular width equals 4.2–5.0 transverse eye diameters. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club slightly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in both sexes. Pronotum: Surface with punctures minute to small, sparse to moderate in density, most small punctures setigerous, surrounded by large, round, black or reddish brown spot; setae minute, tawny, usually abraded away; spots irregular in distribution, often coalescing. Lateral margin lacking bead. Elytra: Surface similar to that of pronotum except that punctures horseshoe-shaped, some coalescing into sparse, vermiform strigae near apical umbone. Apices at suture subquadrate. Pygidium: Surface similar to that of elytra, punctures denser near base, setae short (not minute). In lateral view, profile nearly flat. Venter: Setae long, tawny. Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, produced forward and slightly downward with acute apex recurving upwards ( Fig. 12 ). Abdominal ventrites with large, moderately dense, irregularly distributed, round, black spots surrounding mostly horseshoe-shaped, moderately large, setigerous punctures; setae short, tawny. Legs: Protibia in both sexes slender, with apical tooth, and occasionally with slight swellings indicating second and third teeth. Parameres ( Figs. 14–15 ): In caudal views, form elongate, subtriangular, apices bluntly rounded and curving slightly towards one another.

Distribution. Hadrosticta viridiflua is known from Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula only, near Panama) and Panama.

Locality Records. 54 specimens from BCRC, BMNH, CASC, CNCI, DEIC, HAHC, INBC, JEWC, JMSC, and USNM. COSTA RICA (12). PUNTARENAS (9) : Estación Sirena (Osa). NO DATA (3) . PANAMA (41). PANAMÁ (41) : Cerro Campana. NO DATA (1).

Temporal Distribution. January (20), June (1), July (5), August (14), September (8), December (2).

Diagnosis. Only three other New World gymnetine genera possess a distinctly emarginate, or bilobed, clypeal apex: Amithao Thomson, 1879 , Desicasta Thomson, 1878 , and Guatemalica Neervoort van de Poll, 1886 . Species of Amithao have a mesometasternal process that is, in lateral view, dorsoventrally flattened and in the same plane as the ventral axis of the body. In Desicasta , the mesometasternal process is usually subrectangular and obliquely deflexed (sometimes weakly) downwards from the axis of the venter of the body and with a bulbous or subquadrate apex. Both Guatemalica and Hadrosticta have a mesometasternal process that is short, attenuate, and curving downwards and then recurving upwards at the apex ( Fig. 12 ), but Guatemalica species are velutinous dorsally, whereas H. viridiflua is shiny and metallic. Hadrosticta viridiflua is probably one of the most easily recognizable New World gymnetines because of its emarginate clypeus in combination with the bright green or ochre color with black spots dorsally and bright metallic green/orange color ventrally.

The holotype has a more defined area of orange along the lateral margins of the the elytra, and the parameres are more widely separated in the apical half resulting in the apices curving more directly towards one another. This led me to question whether the series from Panama might be different, since those specimens do not show these attributes. Finding no other characters that might differ, I remained conservative and retain them all as one species.

Natural History. This species is diurnal. Adults have been routinely collected in fermenting banana traps and in flowers of Miconia Ruiz and Pavón (Melastomataceae) and Inga Miller (Fabaceae) at elevations of 250–850 m (label data and Solís (2004)).

Figures

Figs. 11–15. Hadrosticta viridiflua. 11) Habitus; 12–13) Lateral and ventral views, respectively, of form of mesometasternal process; 14–15) Parameres.