Phaeaphodius plutenkoi ( Král, 2002 ), Kral, 2002

Dellacasa, Marco & Dellacasa, Giovanni, 2016, Systematic revision of the genus Phaeaphodius Reitter, 1892 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), Zootaxa 4162 (1), pp. 143-163 : 153-155

Phaeaphodius plutenkoi ( Král, 2002)

( Figs. 34–38 )

Aphodius (Phaeaphodius) plutenkoi Král, 2002: 47 ; Dellacasa & Dellacasa 2006: 133.

Aphodius (Aphodius) davidkrali Dellacasa et al., 2002: 7 ; Dellacasa et al. 2003: 279 (as junior synonym of Aphodius plutenkoi ).

Phaeaphodius plutenkoi: Dellacasa et al., 2003: 279 .

Type locality. Houzhensi vill. 1900 m, Tabaishan range, Shaanxi, China.

Type repository. Aphodius plutenkoi: David Král collection. Prague, Czech Republic (type specimens not examined); Aphodius davidkrali : Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France.

Redescription. Length 6.0–7.0 mm; elongate, strongly convex, moderately shiny; nearly glabrous, elytra very shortly and sparsely pubescent on preapical declivity. Head and pronotum black, pronotum shadowy red laterally; scutellum black; elytra brownish-yellow with brown suture and with two oblique bands of spots faintly dark brown; legs piceous; antennal club piceous. Head with epistome feebly gibbous, densely and irregularly punctate, punctation coarser and denser distally; clypeus faintly sinuate at middle, widely round on sides, thickly bordered, edge glabrous and anteriorly, upturned; genae obtusely round, setose, protruding from the eyes; frontal suture tuberculate; front distinctly and subregularly punctate. Pronotum transverse, somewhat flattened toward anterior angles, strongly convex, dually punctate, large punctures six to seven times larger than small punctures, irregularly scattered on sides, small punctures evenly scattered throughout, more superficial on disc; sides subparallel; margins thinly bordered, setose near anterior angles; hind angles widely truncate; base feebly bisinuate, rather thinly bordered, border crenutate by a belt of coarse and contiguous punctures. Scutellum triangularly elongate, feebly concave, with few irregular punctures on basal half. Elytra elongate, strongly convex, subparallel sided, rather deeply striate; striae distinctly punctate, subcrenulate, punctures very close to each other; interstriae feebly convex, finely but distinctly microreticulate so sericeous, near imperceptibly punctate, sparsely setose on preapical declivity. Metatibiae superior spur shorter than first metatarsomere; latter slightly longer than following 3 metatarsomeres combined. Male: head with epistome more sparsely and less coarsely punctate; frontal suture distinctly trituberculate; pronotum widely transverse, with a feeble foveola at middle of anterior margin, dually punctate on sides but nearly smooth on disc; aedeagus Figs. 37–38 . Female: head with epistome more densely and more coarsely punctate; frontal suture more weakly tuberculate, pronotum somewhat narrowed apically, without trace of median anterior foveola, dually punctate throughout, large punctures sparser on disc.

Distribution. The species is known only from China (Gansu, Shaanxi).

Material examined. CHINA: Gansu, Win Shan range, 70 km NW Wudu, 1.VI.1997, A. Gorodinski leg. (26 specimens, DCG) ; Shaanxi, Taibashan Mountains , N Hoazhenzi, 2460 m, 3.VIII.1998, S. Murzin leg. (1 specimen, paratype of Aphodius davidkrali , DCG) .

Bionomics. Some specimens of the type series were collected with pitfall trap baited with fish, in a forested area.

Remarks. Dellacasa et al. (2002: 7) considered A. davidkrali (now a junior synonym of Phaeaphodius plutenkoi ) as belonging to the genus Aphodius , i.e., Aphodius s ensu stricto, based on the taxonomic criteria established in Dellacasa et al. (2001). In the original description it was stressed that A. davidkrali had morphological characters shared between Aphodius and Phaeaphodius , but Dellacasa et al. (2002) considered the presence of a central foveola at middle of anterior margin of pronotum in males as the most taxonomically important character. Subsequently, Dellacasa et al. (2003) agreed with Král’s opinion regarding the shape of the aedeagus and transferred A. plutenkoi to Phaeaphodius .

Figures

FIGURES 34 – 43. Phaeaphodius plutenkoi (Král, 2002) (China, Shaanxi, Taibashan Mountains, N Hoazhenzi, 2460 m). 34, epipharynx; 35 – 36, habitus (scale bar and morphological details); 37 – 38, aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views). Phaeaphodius pupillus (Balthasar, 1961) (Afghanistan, Kandahar-Kuna). 39. epipharynx; 40 – 41, habitus (morphological details and scale bar); 42 – 43, aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views).