Amblochilus bicolor Blanchard, 1851

Allsopp, Peter G., 2021, The Australian endemic genera Mesystoechus Waterhouse, 1878, Amblochilus Blanchard, 1851, and Bilobatus Machatschke, 1970 revisited (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anoplognathini), Zootaxa 4965 (2), pp. 363-374 : 365

Amblochilus bicolor Blanchard, 1851

Amblochilus bicolor Blanchard, 1851: 225 .

Type series. Lectotype ♂ (here designated) ( Figs. 1–2 ): 4 46 [handwritten, circular] | n ho. [ New Holland] [handwritten] | TYPE [printed on red] | MNHN EC1436 [printed] | LECTOTYPE ♂ Amblochilus bicolor des. P. Allsopp 2019 [printed] [ MNHN] .

Other material examined. AUSTRALIA. QUEENSLAND. 1♂, Brisbane, viii.[19]55, C. Flynn [ UQIC]; 2♂, 2 km N. of Milbong, 12.xii.2002, L. Popple [ QM]; 2♂, Nobby, 7.i.1975, I. Titmarsh [ QM]; 1♂, Sunnybank, 15.ii.[19]48, J. W. Littler [ UQIC]; 3♂, Templin, 31.xii.1951, B. Jahnke [ QM]; 1♂, Toowoomba, 30.xii.1974, P. G. Allsopp [ QM]; 1♂, Toowoomba, 18.i.1977, P. G. Allsopp [ QM]; 3♂, Wyreema, O. W. Tiegs [ QM] . AUSTRALIA. 1♂, N. H. [New Holland] [ NMPC, image]. No collection data: 2♂, 1♀ [ QM, UQIC] .

Diagnosis. Male ( Figs. 1–5 ). Body 11–15 mm long; head, pronotum, and scutellum green; elytra dark yellow brown; pygidium and venter reddish black; part of the femora and tibiae yellow brown. Description by Carne (1958: 209; head of male Fig. 99; head of female Fig. 98; metatarsus of female Fig. 100); Weir et al. (2019: dorsum Plate 57F).

Remarks. Blanchard (1851) gave the type locality as “Nouv.-Holl. orient.” [eastern Australia] and collected by Jules Verreaux, who was in Australia (Tasmania and New South Wales) during the 1840s ( Musgrave 1932). Blanchard (1851) did not state how many specimens he saw, although he gave the length as 12–13 mm indicating there he saw more than one. Ohaus (1904) gave no details of the type series and Carne (1958) did not list material from MNHN in the specimens he examined. However, Cassis & Weir (1992) referred to “ syntypes ” in MNHN. To stabilise the identity of the species, I have designated the specimen in MNHN bearing the red ‘Type’ label as the lectotype and labelled it as such.

Distribution ( Fig. 6 ). Known from southeastern Queensland as far west as the eastern Darling Downs and with one unconfirmed record on ALA from Lismore, New South Wales.

Natural history. Males collected at Nobby and Toowoomba were active during the day.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Amblochilus bicolor Blanchard, 1851. 1–2, male lectotype: 1, lateral view; 2, labels; 3–5, male: 3, dorsal view; 4, lateral view; 5, ventral view; 6, known distribution of Amblochilus bicolor in southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales. Figs. 1–2 photographed by Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. Figs. 3–5 photographed by Matthias Seidel.