Tomarus maimon Erichson, 1847

Ratcliffe, Brett C., Cave, Ronald D. & Mondaca, José, 2021, The Dynastine Scarab Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) of Chile, The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (2), pp. 279-309 : 292-293

Tomarus maimon Erichson, 1847 ( Figs. 23–25 )

Tomarus maimon Erichson 1847: 96 (original combination).

Heteronychus fossator Burmeister 1847: 101 = Tomarus maimon fossator (Burmeister) (subspecies; Dupuis 2016).

Redescription. Length 22.0– 31.9 mm; width 10.9–15.7 mm. Color black or piceous. Head: Frons and clypeus transversely rugose. Frontoclypeal region with 2 broadly separated tubercles (laterad of each respective clypeal tooth). Clypeal apex with 2 small, nearly contiguous, reflexed teeth. Mandibles with 2 teeth and a rounded basal lobe. Interocular width equals 3.0–3.3 transverse eye diameters. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club subequal in length to antennomeres 2–7. Pronotum: Surface with moderately large, dense punctures, anterior angles rugopunctate. Anterior margin with small, median tubercle followed by a small, oval fovea (fovea narrower than distance between eyes). Elytra: Surface punctate-striate; punctures moderate in size with sparser, minute punctures between larger punctures; larger punctures ocellate. Pygidium: Surface on disc with small, sparse punctures, punctures becoming dense on base and in lateral angles. In lateral view, convex in male, weakly convex in female. Legs: Protibia tridentate, teeth subequally spaced from each other. Male protarsus simple, not enlarged. Metatibial apex with about 16 spinules. Venter: Prosternal process long, columnar, thick, apex longitudinally oval. Parameres: As in Fig. 24 .

Distribution. Tomarus maimon is widely distributed in the arid coastal areas of Peru and Chile ( Neita-Moreno and Ratcliffe 2017), Brazil ( Endrödi 1969, 1985), the Guianas ( Dupuis 2016; Hielkema and Hielkema 2019), and Ecuador ( Ratcliffe et al. 2020).

Locality Records ( Fig. 25 ). 96 specimens from CMNC, FSCA, JMEC, MNNC, USNM, Ferrú and Elgueta (2011), López-García and Deloya (2018), and Neita-Moreno and Ratcliffe (2017) .

REGIÓN DE ARICA Y PARINACOTA (37): ARICA (37): Arica (50 km S), Cuya, Poconchile, Quebrada de Azapa, Río Lluta , San Miguel de Azapa, Taltape . REGIÓN DE TARAPACÁ (59): IQUIQUE (39): Iquique; TAMARUGAL (3): Pica, Quillaguasa, Reserva Nacional Pampa del Tamarugal ; NO DATA (17) .

Temporal Distribution. January (2), February (14), October (1), November (17), December (4).

Diagnosis. The pronotum of T. maimon has a small, round, subapical fovea, whereas the fovea of T. rostratus is small and narrowly elongate. The clypeal apex of T. maimon is narrowly bidentate but more broadly subtruncate in T. rostratus . The protibia is tridentate in T. maimon , yet tridentate with a basal swelling suggestive of a fourth tooth in T. rostratus . Lastly, the parameres are different (compare Figs. 24 and 28 ).

Natural History. Adults are attracted to lights at night. Some specimens have been taken in sand dunes adjacent to ocean beaches. Tomarus maimon has been implicated as a pest of sugarcane (Ayquipa and Cueva 1979) and sweet potato (Daza and Rincón 1993) in Peru.

Figures

Figs. 23–25. Tomarus maimon. 23) Habitus; 24) Parameres; 25) Distribution.

Figs. 26–29. Tomarus rostratus. 26) Holotype, MNHN-EC-2378-EC4187; 27) Holotype labels; 28) Parameres; 29) Distribution. Images in Figs. 26–27 courtesy ofAntoine Mantilleri (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France).