Dendropaemon Perty, 1830

François Génier & Patrick Arnaud, 2016, Dendropaemon Perty, 1830: taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny of the morphologically most derived phanaeine genus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae, Phanaeini), Zootaxa 4099 (1) : 6-8

Dendropaemon Perty, 1830

Dendropaemon Perty 1830 , Delec. Anim. Art. (fasc. 1): 38 (original description) Dendropemon: Agassiz 1846 , Nom. Zool.: 119 (unjustified emendation)

Dendropaemon: Lacordaire 1856 , Hist. Nat . Ins. III: 102 (redescription, comment) Dendropaemon: Burmeister 1861 , Berl. Ent. Zeit. 5: 56 (mentioned as synonym) Dendropemon: Harold 1869 , Cat. Col. IV: 1020 (catalogue)

Dendropemon: Harold 1875 , Stett. Ent. Zeit. 36: 456 (comment)

Dendropaemon: Lacordaire & Chapuis 1876 , Gen. Col. 12: 276 (catalogue) Dendropemon: Harold 1877 , Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat . Genova 10: 84 (comment) Dendropaemon: Péringuey 1901 , Trans. S. Afr. Phil. Soc. 12: 307 (comment) Dendropoemon: Kolbe 1905 , Zool. Jahrb., Supp. 8: 531 (mention)

Dendropemon: Gillet 1911 , Col. Cat. 38: 88 (catalogue)

Dendropaemon: Olsoufieff 1924 , Insecta 13: 121 (monograph)

Dendropaemon: Blut 1939 , Arch. Naturg. (N.F.) 8: 267 (monograph)

Dendropaemon: Pessôa & Lane 1941 , Arq. Zool. S. Paulo 2: 490 (bibliography) Dendropemon: Martinez 1944 , Rev. Arg. Ent. 2: 35 (comment taxonomy)

Dendropemon: Blackwelder 1944 , U. S. Nat . Mus. Bull. 185: 210 (checklist) Dendropaemon: Lange 1947 , Arq. Mus. Paranaense 6: 314 (mention)

Dendropaemon: Janssens 1954 , Vol. Jub. V. Van Stralen: 974 (comment taxonomy) Dendropaemon: Edmonds 1972 , Univ. Kansas Sc. Bull. 49: 843 (redescription, identification key, comment) Dendropaemon: Branco 1991 , Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (N. S.) 27: 266 (systematic position) Dendropaemon: Edmonds 1994 , Nat . Hist. Mus. LA Co., Cont. Sc. 443: 17 (identification key) Dendropaemon: Zimmerman 1994 , Australian Weevils I: 84 (comment taxonomy) Dendropaemon: Vitolo 2000 , Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. 24: 593 (identification key) Dendropaemon: Escobar 2000 , Mon. Terc. Mil. 1: 199 (faunistic)

Dendropaemon : Vaz-de-Mello 2000, Hac. Pray. CYTED: 186 (faunistic)

Dendropaemon: Philips & Scholtz 2000 , Afr. Ent. 8: 227 (mention)

Dendropaemon: Arnaud 2002 , Col. Monde 28: 14 (monograph)

Dendropaemon: Philips et al. 2004 , Insect Syst. Evol. 35: 43 (phylogeny)

Dendropaemon: Larsen et al. 2006 , Col. Bull. 60: 320 (biology)

Dendropaemon: Noriega et al. 2008 , Biot. Colomb. 9: 133 (notes)

Dendropaemon: Price 2009 , Sys. Ent. 34: 148 (phylogeny)

Dendropaemon : Vaz-de-Mello & Génier 2009, Col. Bull. 63: 364 (biology) Dendropaemon: Gillett et al. 2010 , Insecta Mundi 0118: 12 (identification key, distribution)

Diagnosis. In addition to having a reduced number of tarsal segments on meso and metatibiae, members of the genus Dendropaemon are unique among Scarabaeinae in possessing the following synapomorphies: basal and usually hidden portion of the pygidium with an oblique groove on each side of the midline; elytral apex more or less emarginated in line with the distal portion of each groove; abdominal sternites 4–6 with minute punctures and finally, with a more or less developed prosternal spiniform process anteromedially.

Description. Phanaeine. Body. Small to large (6.0– 22.5 mm). Color. Varying from entirely black to partially metallic green, reddish, coppery or blue; legs and ventrum usually black or darker in color for species presenting metallic sheen. Head. Clypeus always bidentate; clypeofrontal carina always present, sometime reduced low and straight or more or less trilobate in frontal view, never produced into a horn medially. Pronotum. Surface varying from flat on disc to more or less evenly convex; always with a more or less developed transverse ridge anteromedially; lateral fossae always present. Elytra. More or less parallel sided in dorsal view; striae always well defined; interstriae never strongly convex, usually flat. Thoracic sterna. Prosternum usually with a more or less developed spiniform process anteromedially. Legs. Variable in shape, usually stout and more or less rectangular in medial cross section, slender and more or less rounded in cross section only in the subgenus Paradendropaemon ; meso and metatarsi always less than five segmented, varying from two to four segmented. Abdominal sternites. More or less reduced along midline; sternites 4–6 usually with minute punctures. Sexual dimorphism. Reduced compare to other Phanaeini. Usually restricted to the shape of the cephalic and pronotal carina, in some species the first and second metatarsomere are slightly more slender in male.

Remarks. The spelling of the genus Dendropaemon has been emended to Dendropemon and/or considered neutral by some authors (e.g. Agassiz, 1846; Harold, 1869; Gillet, 1911; Blackwelder, 1944). The name Dendropaemon can be split in two parts: dendro “(to) trees” and paemon, more specifically pemon “noxious” hence meaning “harmful to trees”. Perty, who gives the etymology of his new genus, preferred “paemon” to “pemon”, perhaps to suggest that the Latin “ae” would represent the Greek eta (ή) more accurately. The Greek word pemon (πήΜων) is an adjective and keep this Latinized spelling for the three genders, masculine, feminine and neutral. The word δενδροπήΜων is also a Greek adjective. Article 30.1.4.2 of the I.C.Z.N. state that “a genusgroup name which is or ends in a word of common or variable gender (masculine or feminine) is to be treated as masculine unless its author, when establishing the name, stated that it is feminine or treated it as feminine in combination with an adjectival species-group name.” Perty, when describing D. piceus and D. viridis , clearly used the masculine form for D. piceus and D. viridis can be masculine or feminine therefore Dendropaemon should be treated as masculine and the emendation Dendropemon is unjustified. There is also a plant genus Dendropemon (Blume) Rchb. ( Loranthaceae ) and it has been treated as masculine by the first reviewer ( Y. Cambefort, pers. comm.).

Harold’s catalogue (1869) list Euryderus Hope and Ryssochaeton Gray (in litt.) as synonyms of Dendropaemon . This information was most likely transcribed from Isis von Oken (Oken, 1833: 1172). Despite efforts, we were unable to find the references where these names were used. We consider both of them in litteris and exclude them from the genus synonymy.

Perty’s work was published in fascicules between the years 1830–1833 ( Blackwelder, 1957; Evenhuis, 1997; Scherer, 1983). For the year 1833, the plates (Pls. 25-30) and the text (pp. 125-224) were published separately and the plates were published in September, a few months before the text which was published in December. Species descriptions are therefore validated on the plates. Evidences point out to a similar occurrence of the plates (Pls. 1- 12) being published before the printed descriptions (pp. 1-44) for the installments published in 1830. The plate where D. piceus and D. viridis where published state Eurysternus as the genus, suggesting that Perty wrote the genus description after the plates were published. For this reason, we uses the plates as the primary citation for Perty’s species descriptions and the text for the generic description in the present work.

The name Dendropaemon Perty, 1830 was emended to Dendropemon by Agassiz, 1846: 119. Dendropemon Schoenherr, 1839 is a genus of Curculionidae , because Dendropaemon is an unjustified emendation there is no homonymy between Dendropaemon and Dendropemon as they differ by one letter (ICZN art. 56.2).