Chilotrogus panotrogoides Reitter, 1905

Miessen, Geoffrey, Uliana, Marco & Keith, Denis, 2020, Review of the genus Chilotrogus Reitter (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae Rhizotrogini) in Iran with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4742 (1), pp. 181-193 : 182-185

Chilotrogus panotrogoides Reitter, 1905

( Figs. 1 , 6 , 9–13 , 19, 20 , 23, 24 , 27, 28 , 47 )

Chilotrogus panotrogoides Reitter, 1905: 203 (original description); Keith 2006: 377; Bezděk 2016: 259.

Articephala phasmella Biggs, 1945: 110 ; Keith 2005: 23–24 (junior synonym of Ch. panotrogoides )

Type locality. “ Central-Persien : Kerman ” [ Iran, Kerman province] .

Type material examined. Chilotrogus panotrogoides : holotype, ♂ ( HNHM), labelled:“ Kerm. (?) | 24.04.[19]04 [handwritten] || Central | Persien | Matthiessen [handwritten] || Chilotrogus | n. g. | panotrogo | ides m. 1905. [handwritten] || coll. Reitter [printed] || Monotypus [printed on label with red border] 1905 | Chilotrogus ♂ | panotrogoides | Reitter ♂ [handwritten] || Chilotrogus panotrogoides | Reitter 1905 | holotypus ♂ | id. Miessen | Uliana & Keith, 2019 [red - printed]”. Articephala phasmella : holotype, ♂ ( BMNH), labelled : holotype ♂ [red - printed] || Arti- cephala | phasmella | Biggs || S. Persia | HEJ Biggs | 10.IV.1933 ; allotype ♀ and 7 paratypes (6 ♂ 1 ♀), same data as holotype; 1 paratype ♂, same data as for holotype, except: “ 3.IV.1934 ” .

Additional material examined (47 specimens). IRAN, Kerman province : 1♂ Persia, Kerman, 4.[19]04, Mat- thiessen, coll. Petrovitz, MHNG (wrongly identified as paratype, see under Remarks ) ; 1♂ Sirjan, 27.IV.1971, R .N., ex coll. J. Baraud, MNHP; 1♂ Rafsanjan, 26→ 28.IV.1973, loc no 181, Exped. Nat. Mus. Praha CDK ; 1♂ Mahan, 29.IV.1973, loc no 183, Exped. Nat. Mus. Praha CDK ; 1♂ Korin, env. Baft, 17→ 19. V .2008, leg. A. Klimenko, CGM; 2♂♂ Golbaf 23. V .2008, COM ; 2♂♂ Golbaf, 24. V .2008, COM ; 1♂, Golbaf 28. V .2008, COM ; 3♂♂ Kerman, leg. Ressl, coll. Petrovitz, MNHG ; 1♀ Sarbijan, N29°05’ E57°33’, alt.: 2800 m, 5. VI .2008, leg. V. Major CDK ; 2♂♂ Kuh-e-Momenabad, Sarbijan (Shinagara), 29°05’53” N 57°32’45” E, alt. 2900 m, 31. V .2013, leg. V. Major, CMU ; 1♂ env. Delfard, road Jiroft-Rayen, alt. 2300 m, 15. V .2014, leg. D. Muratsyi, CMU; 2♀♀ Dalfard, 40 km NNO Jiroft , 25. VI .2014, leg. O. Pak, CGM; 2♂♂ env. Laleh-Zar, 20. V .2017, leg. & vendit S. Azadbakhsh, CGM ; 10♂♂ and 8♀♀ Sirjan, leg. & det. R . Petrovitz, HNHM, CDK, MNHG, CGS, MNHP (ex coll. J. Baraud) ; 1♂ Hos- sein Abad nö Sirjan, leg. & det. R . Petrovitz CGS, HNHM ; 1♀ Hossein Abad, 10 km E. Kerman city, 30.242222N 57.192780E, alt.: 1790 m, CSV ; 1♀ Kerman, leg. Petrovitz, coll. MHNG, (wrongly identified as allotype, see under Remarks ) . Hormozgan province: 1♂ Minab, 24.IV.1971, M. R ., ex coll. J. Baraud, MNHP; 1♂ Tabas - 200 km Yazd , alt.: 800 m, 18. V .1996, leg. Satz / Badii, COM . No locality stated: 4♂♂ coll. R . Petrovitz, MNHG .

Differential diagnosis. Habitus as in Figs. 1 and 6 . Chilotrogus panotrogoides is extremely similar to Ch. matejicecki new species and can only be differentiated by morphology of male genitalia. See treatment of the latter for a discussion of diagnostic characters.

Distribution. Broadly distributed in the Kerman province, both on the plateau and on mountains, between 1800 and 2900 m a.s.l., possibly parapatric with respect to its close relative Ch. matejiceki new species, and at least partially sympatric with Ch. schoolmeestersi new species. A single outside record is known from lowland close to the coast in Hormozgan province ( Fig. 47 ).

Remarks. Reitter (1905) described the genus Chilotrogus to accommodate his new species Ch. panotrogoides . In the primary description, he indicates that he describes it on a unique specimen captured by A. Matthiessen who kindly offered it to him: “ Zentral-Persien (Kerman.) Von Herrn A. Matthiessen (Kivennapa, Finnland) 1 ♂ entdeckt und mir freundlichst überlassen ”. [= “Central Persia (Kerman.) From Mr. A. Matthiessen (Kivennapa, Finland), one male discovered and kindly donated to me”]. A corresponding specimen was found at HNHM, where Reitter collection is housed ( Fig. 6 ). It bears a red bordered label that identifies it as “Monotypus”, which however has been placed afterwards under the specimen following a sometimes unwarranted curatorial work on Reitter’s type specimens housed at HNHM (Reitter never added any label mentioning holotype or paratype to his specimens, see also Miessen 2019). Anyway, based on the first three labels, which are handwritten by Reitter (a sample of a label by Reitter can be found in Horn & Kahle (1935 –1937, plate 10)), we do confirm this specimen to be the true holotype, and we add a new red label: “ Chilotrogus panotrogoides Reitter, 1905 holotypus ♂, id. Miessen, Uliana & Keith, 2019”.

Surprisingly, we found another specimen in the collection of Rudolf Petovitz (MHNG), apparently collected together with the holotype and labelled as paratype (labels in Fig. 8 ). Petrovitz also labelled a female captured by himself as allotype (labels in Fig. 7 ), declared as such and described in Petrovitz (1980: 619). Because Ch. panotrogoides was described according to holotype only, both these specimens deposited in MNHG should be removed from the type series.

Due to the similarity of this species to Ch. matejiceki new species, we thought useful to revise a part of the typical series (including holotype) of Articephala phasmella , which allows us to confirm the synonymy with Ch. panotrogoides established by Keith (2006).

Figures

FIGURE 47. Known distribution of Iranian Chilotrogus Reitter, 1905, based on verified records.

FIGURES 1–4. Male habitus of Iranian Chilotrogus Reitter, 1905. 1, Ch. panotrogoides Reitter, 1905, specimen from Iran: Sarbijan (Shinagara); 2, Ch. matejiceki Miessen, Uliana & Keith, new species, paratype from Iran: Mijam; 3, Ch. farsensis Keith, 2003, specimen from 40 Km NW Shiraz, Sangar; 4, Ch. schoolmeestersi Miessen, Uliana & Keith, new species, holotype.

FIGURES 5–8. Type specimens of Chilotrogus Reitter, 1905. 5, Ch. matejiceki Miessen, Uliana & Keith, new species, holotype and labels; 6, Ch. panotrogoides Reitter, 1905, holotype and labels; 7, Ch. panotrogoides, labels of false allotype in MHNG; 8, Ch. panotrogoides, labels of false paratype in MHNG.

FIGURES 9–13. Male genitalia of Ch. panotrogoides Reitter, 1905, holotype. 9, aedeagus (endophallic sclerite dissected), right lateral view; 10, same, dorsal view; 11, same, apical view; 12: endophallic sclerite, dorsal view; 13, same, right lateral view.

FIGURES 19–22. Paramera of Ch. panotrogoides Reitter, 1905 (19, 20) and Ch. matejiceki Miessen, Uliana & Keith, new species (21, 22), extremes of variability, left inclined lateral view. 19, specimen from Iran: Sarbijan (Shinagara); 20, specimen from Iran: Kerman (holotype); 21, specimen from Iran: Deh Bakhri (holotype); 22, specimen from Iran: Mijam (paratype).

FIGURES 23–26. Endophallic sclerite of Ch. panotrogoides Reitter, 1905 (23, 24) and Ch. matejiceki Miessen, Uliana & Keith, new species (25, 26), extremes of variability. 23, specimen from Iran: Kerman (holotype); 24, specimen from Iran: Sarbijan (Shinagara); 25, specimen from Iran: Deh Bakhri (holotype); 26, specimen from Iran: Mijam (paratype). a, left lateral view; b, inclined lateral view; c, frontal view, apex of internal tubular structure in evidence. Red lines indicate the boundary between sclerotized and soft tissue on the apical meatus.

FIGURES 27–30. Female genitalia of Ch. panotrogoides Reitter, 1905 (27, 28) and Ch. matejiceki Miessen, Uliana & Keith, new species (29, 30). 27, 28, specimens from Iran: Sirjan; 29, specimen from Iran: Deh Bakhri (allotype); 30, specimen from Iran: Deh Bakhri (paratype).