Amithao erythropus ( Burmeister, 1842 )

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2013, A Revision Of The Neotropical Genus Amithao Thomson, 1878 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 67 (3), pp. 265-292 : 277-278

Amithao erythropus ( Burmeister, 1842) ( Figs. 24–28 )

Cotinis erythropus Burmeister 1842: 263 (original combination). Holotype female at RMNH, examined. Type locality: “ Mexico.”

Cotinis moreleti Blanchard 1850: 33 (synonym). Lectotype male ( Ratcliffe 2004) at MNHN, examined. Type locality: “ Mexico.”

Amithao splendens Nonfried 1894: 127 (synonym). Holotype male at ZMHU, examined. Type locality: “central Honduras.”

Desicasta nonfriedi Schoch 1896: 329 (original combination) and repeated in 1897. Holotype female at DEIC, examined. Type locality: “ San Pedro, Honduras.” New synonymy.

Amithao erici Mitter 2007: 519 (orignal combination). Holotype female in HMCS, examined via photographs courtesy of H. Mitter. Type locality: “ Mombacho , Granada, Nicaragua.” New synonymy.

Description. Length 18.5–21.5 mm; width across humeri 10.3–11.8 mm. Color usually black, occasionally dark reddish brown, shiny, and with cretaceous marks as follows: head with 2 elongate bands between eyes; small spot mesad of each eye; pronotum with band along lateral margins mesad of bead and on posterolateral margin of epimeron; elytra with 1 transverse, broken band behind middle and 1 band behind apical umbone extending from lateral margin to suture; pygidium with elongate spot on each lateral margin and 1 transverse line across base; thoracic ventrites and/or punctures and coxae extensively covered; abdominal ventrites 1–5 each with transverse band in posterolateral corner and abdominal ventrites 2–5 each with transverse band on anterior margin either side of middle. All spots and bands may be variably reduced. Femora and tibiae bright reddish brown or entirely black. Head: Lateral margins elevated.

25) Ventral view.

Frons longitudinally tumescent, surface depressed either side of middle. Surface of frons and clypeus densely punctate; punctures moderate to large (females with punctures usually larger), setigerous (when not abraded away); setae minute, tawny. Clypeus with apex broadly, shallowly emarginate, each anterior angle broadly rounded ( Fig. 24 ), barely reflexed. Eyes moderately large, interocular width equals 3.2–4.0 transverse eye diameters. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in males, subequal in length to antennomeres 2–7 in females. Pronotum: Surface with minute to small, sparse punctures, punctures becoming larger and denser on lateral thirds. Sides with thick marginal bead. Elytra: Surface punctate, with 2 distinctly elevated, parallel costae terminating at prominent apical umbone; punctures moderate to large, moderately dense, becoming larger and denser laterally, most in rows on disc. Apices behind apical umbone vaguely rugopunctate. Apices at suture subacute. Pygidium: Surface densely, concentrically strigulose, setigerous in female; setae short, dense, black. In lateral view, profile nearly flat to convex in apical fourth. Venter: Setae black and tawny mixed. Mesometasternal process bluntly rounded and moderately protuberant in lateral view ( Fig. 26 ), apex broadly rounded in ventral view. Abdominal ventrites nearly smooth in central third; lateral thirds with moderate to large, moderately dense punctures. Females with punctures on lateral thirds usually denser. Legs: Protibia in males slender with 3 subequally spaced teeth. Protibia in females slightly more robust, with 3 larger, subequally spaced teeth. Parameres

( Figs. 27–28 ): Form subrectangular, apices rounded and with distinct, sharp spur laterally.

Distribution. Amithao erythropus is known from east-central Mexico to northern Costa Rica.

Locality Records. 121 specimens from AMIC, BCRC, BMNH, CASC, CNCI, CZUG, DEIC, EAPZ, EGRC, EMEC, FMNH, FSCA, HAHC, INBC, MAMC, MCZC, MNHN, PKLC, RMNH, UNAM, UNSM, USNM, UVGC, ZMHU, ZSMC. Some data from Reyes Novelo and Morón (2005). BELIZE (13): BELIZE (2) : Manatee. STANN CREEK (3) : Middlesex. TOLEDO (1) : No data. NO DATA (7) . COSTA RICA (23): GUANACASTE (21) : Estación Biológica Maritza (Parque Nacional Guanacaste), Estación Los Almendros (12 km ex Santa Cecilia), Estación Santa Rosa (Parque Nacional Santa Rosa), La Cruz (9 mi. S Santa Cecilia). NO DATA (2) . GUATEMALA (5): ALTA VERAPAZ (1) : Panzós. IZABAL (1) : Livingston. JALAPA (1) : Monjas. PETÉN (1) : Tikal. NO DATA (1) . HONDURAS (16): ATLÁNTIDA (2) : Río Congrejal (15 km E), San Alejo (United Fruit Co.). CORTÉS (5) : Lago de Yojoa, San Pedro Sula. FRANCISCO MORAZÁN (2) : El Zamorano. GRACIAS A DIOS (1) : Brus Lagoon. NO DATA (6) . MEXICO (53): CAMPECHE (1) : Ciudad del Carmen , Colonia Lopez Mateo (46 mi. E). CHIAPAS (3) : Ocosingo, Ocozocoautla. SAN LUIS POTOSÍ (1) : EL Bonito. OAXACA (4) : Donaji, Matías Romero. TABASCO (5) : Paraíso. VERACRUZ (31) : Córdoba, Cotaxtla, Los Tuxtlas Biological Station, Misantla, Tuxpan , Veracruz. YUCATÁN (2) : Tigre Grande, No data. NO DATA (6) . NICARAGUA (3): GRANADA (1) : Mombacho. RÍO SAN JUAN (2) : Reserva de la Biosfera Indio Maíz. NO DATA (8).

Temporal Distribution. April (2), May (16), June (42), July (17), August (2), September (1).

Diagnosis. Amithao erythropus is distinctive because of its generally smaller size (but larger than 17 mm in length), short and blunt mesometasternal process ( Fig. 26 ), and either red or black femora and tibiae. Those specimens that are entirely black (cretaceous marks absent, referred to as C. moreleti by Blanchard 1850) and with reddish brown legs are simply dark morphs. Amithao erythropus resembles A. haematopus but can be separated by the mesometasternal process (short and blunt in A. erythropus , long and attenuate in A. hameatopus ), the form of the clypeal apex (broadly and shallowly emarginate in A. erythropus , deeply notched in A. haematopus ), and the generally smaller size of A. erythropus (18–22 mm versus 25–27 mm in A. haematopus ).

Nomenclature. Those specimens that are extensively marked with cretacous bands and punctures (Nonfried’ s (1894) A. splendens ) simply have more markings than Burmeister’ s (1842) A. erythropus .

The type of Schoch’ s (1896) D. nonfriedi is the same in all respects to A. erythropus . Apparently not content to describe D. nonfriedi once (1896), Schoch described D. nonfriedi a second time as a new species based upon the same specimen and using the identical language ( Schoch 1897). This second description is simply a repetition of the original and has no nomenclatural standing. After examining the description of A. erici and photographs of the type provided by Heinz Mitter, I concluded that its character states were the same as those found in A. erythropus . Mitter also wondered if his species was simply a female of A. erythropus (personal communication to BCR, February 2013).

Natural History. Specimens have been captured in banana traps at elevations of 200–700 m (label data).

Figures

Figs. 24–25. Amithao erythropus. 24) Dorsal view;

Figs. 26–28. Amithao erythropus. 26) Form of mesometasternal process, lateral view; 27) Parameres, dorsal view; 28) Parameres, lateral view.