Onthophagus vladimiri Frey, 1957

Sathiandran, Nithya & Sabu, Thomas K., 2012, New species, new synonym, and redescription of Onthophagus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) from the Western Ghats, India, Zootaxa 3526, pp. 53-58 : 57-58

Onthophagus vladimiri Frey, 1957

Onthophagus vladimiri Frey, 1957: 687 (type locality: South India, Anamalai Hills)

Onthophagus anamalaiensis Balthasar, 1974:183 synonymy by Tarasov (2010: 48) (type locality: South India, Anamalai Hills) Onthophagus taruni Biswas and Chatterjee, 1986: 92 new synonymy (type locality: South India, Silent Valley; Nilgiri Hills).

Type material examined. Onthophagus taruni — holotype (male in ZSI-Calcutta): “ India, Kerala, Silent valley, No. 10796/H4A”. Paratypes (1 male and 2 females in ZSI-Calcutta): “Kerala, Silent valley, 1 male, No. 10799/ H4A, 2 females, No. 10797/H4A & 10798/H4A”. Onthophagus vladimiri — paratypes (1 male and 1 female in NMP): Anamalai Hills Cinchona 3500 ft. V.56, Süd Indien leg. Nathan.

Additional specimens: 2 males and 1 female in SJC labeled “ India, Kerala, Idukki District, Cardamom hills, Thekkady, 1000 m, 25.ix.2008, Shiju, T.R.”; 1 male labeled “Kerala, Wayanad District, Nilgiri Hills, Panamaram, 600 m, 10.v. 2006, Vinod, K.V.”; 1 female and 1 male labeled “Kerala, Palghat District, Nelliampathi Hills, Kaikatty, 1000 m, 12.v.2007, Shiju, T.R.”

Geographical distribution. India (Kerala: Nelliyampathy hills, Silent valley, Thekkady, Wayanad; Tamil Nadu: Anamalai hills).

Remarks. The holotype of O. taruni and paratype of O. vladimiri share the same diagnostic characters of the external morphology (including the shape of the aedeagus) and were determined to be conspecific. Additionally, specimens of both species including the type series were collected from the adjoining hills in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion and are a regional endemic to the moist south Western Ghats.