description

A new brachypterous scarab species, Orphnus longicornis from East African Rift

Figures 1–7. Orphnus longicornis.

Frolov, A. V. & Akhmetova, L. A. 2015. A new brachypterous scarab species, Orphnus longicornis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae), from the East African Rift. Zootaxa, 4039(3): 475–477

Examination of the material housed in the Museum of Natural History of Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany (ZMHUB), revealed a series of brachypterous Orphnus beetles belonging to an undescribed species.

Rediscovery of the enigmatic Stenosternus costatus from São Tomé Island

Figures 1–2. Stenosternus costatus Karsch, habitus in dorsal view and abdomen in ventral view. 1 — female, 2 — male.

Frolov, A. V. & Akhmetova, L. A. 2015. Rediscovery of the enigmatic Stenosternus costatus Karsch (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae) from São Tomé island. Zootaxa, 4007, 440–444.

Stenosternus Karsch, 1881 is one of the least-known genera of the Orphninae scarab beetles. It was described from a single specimen of the odd-looking S. costatus Karsch, 1881, from the island of São Tomé, Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. Since then, no more findings of S. costatus have been reported... We discovered additional specimens of both sexes of S. costatus housed in the Museo Civico di Genova, Genova, Italy (MCGI) and California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, United States of America (CASC). In this note we describe a female of S. costatus and discuss the species distribution and the taxonomic position of the genus.

New data on the rare Afrotropical scarab beetles Orphnus drumonti and Delopleurus naviauxi

 

Frolov, A. V. & Akhmetova, L. A. 2015. New data on the rare Afrotropical scarab beetles Orphnus drumonti Frolov and Delopleurus naviauxi Frolov et Cambefort (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Orphninae and Scarabaeinae). Biodiversity Data Journal, 3: e5444.

The scarab beetle genera Orphnus Macleay and Delopleurus Boheman are most speciose in the Afrotropical region. However, a number of species are only known from type specimens, sometimes only from one sex. New locality records of Orphnus drumonti Frolov (Orphninae) and Delopleurus naviauxi Frolov et Cambefort (Scarabaeinae) are given. The previously unknown female of the former and male of the latter species are described.

Stenosternus Karsch, a possible link between Neotropical and Afrotropical Orphninae

1–3 Habitus of males 4 punctation of elytral disc 5 aedeagus in lateral view and parameres in dorsal view 6 serration of medial margins of parameres 7–10 aedeagus in ventral view 1, 4–7 Stenosternus costatus Karsch, holotype 2 Aegidium colombianum Westwood 3 Orphnus macleayi Laporte de Castelnau 8 Hybalus cornifrons (Brullé) 9 Aegidium parvulum Westwood 10 Orphnus compactus Petrovitz.Frolov, A.V. 2013. Stenosternus Karsch, a possible link between Neotropical and Afrotropical Orphninae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). ZooKeys, 335: 33-46.   PDF (2.41 MB)

Abstract. The monotypical orphnine genus Stenosternus Karsch is known from a single specimen of Stenosternus costatus collected on the São Tomé island (Gulf of Guinea). The holotype of Stenosternus costatus Karsch is re-examined and its characters are discussed and illustrated. Although the genus was implicitly placed by Paulian (1984) in the Old World tribe Orphnini Erichson, re-examination of the holotype of Stenosternus costatus shows that it has characters similar to those of the members of the New World tribe Aegidiini Paulian. Placement of Stenosternus in the Aegidiini is supported by the metepisternum widened posteriorly (forming posterior metepisternal lock for closed elytra) and a keel separating basal and anterolateral parts of propleurae. Relationships of Stenosternus with other orphnine taxa and possible ways of origin of São Toméan orphnine fauna are discussed.