Tomarus bidentulus ( Fairmaire, 1892 )

López-García, Margarita M. & Deloya, Cuauhtémoc, 2019, Five New Species of the Dynastine Genus Tomarus Erichson (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), with an Illustrated Key to Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (1), pp. 127-141 : 128

Tomarus bidentulus ( Fairmaire, 1892) ( Fig. 1 )

Ligyrus bidentulus Fairmaire 1892: 244 (original combination)

Type Material. “ La Rioja / Tinogasta / V.965 Kolher // ARGENTINA / 1968 Colln. / J. Daguerre // Ligyrus bidentulus Fairmaire, 1892 / NEOTYPE ” (16 USNM). Neotype, designated here.

Additional Material Examined. 66, 26♀. ARGENTINA: BUENOS AIRES: Carmen de Patagones (16 MZUSP) ; Olavarria , xi.1955, Dapuerra (36 USNM) . CATAMARCA: Ancafri, iv, Kohler (1♀ USNM) . Sinquil , i.1959, Kohler (1♀ USNM) . CHUBUT: Golf of San Jorge , 20.xi.1972 (161♀ USNM) ; Peninsula Valdés , 15.i.1971, A. Kovács (2♀ HNHM) . LA RIOJA: La Unión , 5.v.1960 (2♀ USNM) . Mascasin, Med Negros , iii.1961, Kohler (2♀ USNM) ; Villa Unión , 5.v.1960, Suarez (2♀ USNM) . MENDOZA: Mendoza, C.S. Reed (167♀ USNM) ; Mendoza, Jensen-Haarup (1♀ HNHM) ; 60 km S El Nihuil , 6.vi.2003, F.C. Ocampo & A.B.T. Smith (16 USNM) ; Cerro Quadral , ii.1963, Kohler (164♀ USNM) . RÍO NEGRO: El Bolsón, xii.1955 (16 MZUSP) ; San Antonio O., Rio Negro , xii.1956, H.C. Hoppes (16 USNM) ; Villa Regina , 15.xii.1955 (26 HNHM) .

SALTA: Cafayate, desierto, A. Cobos (363♀ HNHM) . TUCUMÁN: Tafi de Valle, 7.i.1967, L. Andres (16 USNM) .

Diagnosis. Tomarus bidentulus can be recognized by the antennal club longer than antennomeres 2–7; clypeus long, strongly contracted towards apex; clypeal teeth triangular, long, and not separated; frontal tubercles cariniform or transverse, separated by one tubercle diameter; pronotum with a small tubercle and narrow fovea; parameres with apical fourth narrowed, without minute spines; and lateral teeth of parameres short, triangular. Tomarus bidentulus can be differentiated from Tomarus burmeisteri (Steinheil) and Tomarus paranaensis López-Garc´ıa and Deloya, new species, by the presence of a pronotal tubercle and fovea, which are absent in these other two species. The pronotal fovea and tubercle are present in Tomarus rubripes (Boheman) , but in this species the clypeus is short with lateral margins perpendicularly elevated and the clypeal teeth are triangular to transverse, separated by a tooth diameter.

Comments. Fairmaire (1892) described L. bidentulus from “ Rioja ” without information about the location of the type material. The holotype was never found by Endrödi (1969, 1985), and he mentioned that the males were unknown to him. However, we reviewed seven males and six females deposited at HNHM that were identified by him as this species between 1968 and 1978. No type for this species was found in our search of type material of the species of Tomarus in European and American collections. In a recent redescription of the species, Neita-Moreno and Ratcliffe (2017) included a photograph of a female holotype without type labels nor mention about the collection where it is deposited. As it has already been verified that the holotype is not in Paris or London, which were the more probable locations to Endrödi (1969), we designate here a neotype for L. bidentulus . We selected a specimen collected from La Rioja, Argentina that is within the known distribution of the species and coincides with the more recent diagnosis (Neita-Moreno and Ratcliffe 2017). We take this action under Articles 75.1 and 75.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999) to stabilize the nomenclature, avoid confusion about the existence of a female holotype, and remain valid the redescription made by Neita-Moreno and Ratcliffe (2017).

Figures

Fig. 1. Neotype of Ligyrus bidentulus at USNM, with labels. Scale bar = 2.5 mm.