Allorrhina carmelita ( Burmeister, 1842 )

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2015, A Revision of the Neotropical Genus Allorrhina Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (1), pp. 91-113 : 91-113

Allorrhina carmelita ( Burmeister, 1842)

( Figs. 1–5 )

Cotinis carmelita Burmeister 1842: 260 (original combination).

Holotype male at DEIC, labeled “816//Amazonen Str//Typus//coll. Kraatz// Allorrhina carmelita Burm. /det Moser//Coll. C”, examined. Type locality: “ Brasilien.”

Cotinis amazonica Thomson 1857: 135 .

Holotype male at MNHN, labeled “Th. Type// amazonica Thoms. / Type / Amaz. //ex Musaeo James Thomson//Type (red)”, examined. Type locality: “ Ega , Amazone supér.”. NEW SYNONYMY.

Cotinis brasiliensis Kraatz 1898: 222 (synonym).

Type not at DEIC. In the collection drawer with the label of Cotinis “ brasiliensis Kr. ” (marked with small, red label = type material), there is no specimen. An adjoining label indicates that “ Brachydactyla discoidea Guer., Criocems (sic) cruciata Gn., Timacha insignis Gn. , Coptocephala cyanocephala Lac. wunden von Le Moult als Ersatz für diese Type gegeben. Februar 1939.” Translation: “these species... were given as a replacement for this type by Le Moult, February 1939 ” suggesting that Le Moult compensated for the loss of the type specimen (by him?) with these replacements (S. Blank, personal communication to BCR, 1 October 2014). Type locality: “Amazonen-Strom.”

Description. Length 19.5–28.0 mm; width across humeri 11.4–17.5 mm. Clypeus, elytral suture, legs, and venter reddish brown to piceous, shiny. Frons, pronotum, elytra, and pygidium opaque, light to dark reddish brown or grayish brown, lacking cretaceous marks (metepisternum rarely with narrow cretaceous ring on some females), some with vague metallic reflection on elytra. Setae of venter and legs in males tawny, females with setae tawny and black mixed. Head: Clypeus of males deeply concave, with moderately large, moderately dense punctures, setigerous; setae long, dense, tawny; lateral margins elevated, subparallel, keel-like; clypeal apex with horn short, stout, subtriangular ( Fig. 2 ), projecting forward and obliquely upwards, apex broadly subtruncate in minors to weakly tridentate in majors; occipital horn dorso-ventrally flattened, extending to at least middle of clypeus, sides subparallel in minors, expanding apically to broad apex in majors, apex distinctly (sometimes weakly) emarginate in both minors and majors ( Fig. 2 ). Clypeus of females not concave, densely punctate to rugopunctate, punctures moderately large and setigerous in pristine specimens, apex broadly parabolic, strongly reflexed at center; frons with low, longitudinal tumescence at center, surface with small, sparse punctures. Interocular width equals 4.0–5.0 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 opaque, with small, sparse punctures near lateral margins. Lateral margins slightly emarginate between middle and basal angle, with marginal bead usually on basal half only. Elytra: Surface opaque, lacking elevated, parallel costae on disc; suture slightly elevated on apical half. Surface with small, sparse punctures only near apices, apices at suture subquadrate to slightly, angularly produced. Pygidium: Males with transversely concentric, vermiform strigulae with minute, tawny setae; females similar but setae slightly longer. In lateral view, surface nearly flat to weakly convex in both sexes. Venter: Metasternum of males punctate on anterior and posterior margins, punctures moderate in size and density; females with punctures larger, denser, or rugopunctate; central third nearly impunctate. Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, moderate in length, parallel to ventral axis of body; in ventral view, sides parallel, apex broadly rounded and slightly flared laterally ( Fig. 5 ). Abdominal ventrites 1–6 of males with punctures moderate in size and density on lateral thirds, impunctate on central third; females with punctures larger, denser, completely covering sternite 6. Legs: Protibia of males slender, bidentate near apex, occasionally with slight swelling behind middle, all but apical tooth usually obsolete. Females with protibia broader, strongly tridentate, basal tooth slightly removed. Parameres: In caudal view, form subrectangular, apices broadly rounded, each with small, subapical tooth projecting upwards ( Figs. 3–4 ). Basal piece about 1.5 times as long as parameres.

Distribution. Allorrhina carmelita occurs in the Amazon basin of several countries, with some extensions to the north into Guyana and west into Colombia and Ecuador. Suárez-G. and Amat- García (2007) listed only A. carmelita from Colombia, but we now know that A. scabriuscula and A. soror occur there, also (see below).

Locality Records. 527 specimens from AJRC, AMIC, AMNH, BCRC, BMNH, CASC, CCBM, CMNH, DEIC, FMNH, INPA, IRSNB, MCZC, MIZA, MLPA, MNHN, MZSP, RMNH, SEAB, QBUM, UNSM, USNM, ZMHU, and ZSMC. BOLIVIA (2). COCHABAMBA (1): Chapare. NO DATA (1). BRAZIL (365). AMAZONAS (300): Benjamin Constant, Borba, Capella, Fonte Boa, Ipiranga, Juarete, Manacapuru, Manaus, Manicoré, Maués, Pôrto Aurora, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, São Paulo de Olivença, Tefé, Tonantins, Urucurituba, Uypizanga (14 km from Manaus), no data. PARÁ (37): Itaituba, Óbidos, Rio Tapajós, Santarém. RONDÔNIA (13): Fazenda Rancho Grande (80 km SE Ariquemes), Porto Velho, Vilhena. NO DATA (15). COLOMBIA (17). META (6): Villavicencio. PUTUMAYO (4): Mocoa. SANTANDER (1): Bucamaranga. NO DATA (6). ECUADOR (4). PASTAZA (2): Pacayacu, Sarayaku. NO DATA (1). GUYANA (22). ESSEQUIBO (4): Bartica, Cataract Canaria. NO DATA (18). PERU (55). AMAZONAS (5): No data. JUNÍN (7): La Merced, Satipo. LORETO (8): Iquitos, Mishuyacu, Yarina Cocha. PASCO (3): Chuchurras. SAN MARTÍN (3): Achinamiza. UCAYALI (21): Boquerón del Padre Abad , Previsto, Pucallpa. NO DATA (8). VENEZUELA (49). AMAZONAS (17): Alto Rio Mavaca , Parque Nacional Duida-Marahuaca, Rio Baria , San Carlos de Río Negro. BOLÍVAR (32): El Bochinche, El Dorado to Santa Elena (km 82, km 88, km 107, km 155), Guayaraca, Meseta de Nuria. NO DATA (13).

Temporal Distribution. January (8), February (9), March (26), April (104), May (6), June (10), July (40), August (40), September (40), October (24), November (25), December (42).

Diagnosis. Males of A. carmelita are easily distinguished because they are the only species in the genus where the male has the dorso-ventrally flattened occipital horn weakly to strongly emarginate at its apex ( Fig. 2 ) and free for much of its length. Males of all the other species have either a rounded, broadly arcuate, or attenuate occipital horn or tumescence or the apex is barely free only at the extreme apex when the horn is reduced to a longitudinal tumescence.

Allorrhina soror is similar in form and color to A. carmelita (and sympatric in part of its range), but A. soror is smaller (17.4–22.7 mm versus 19.5–28.0 mm in A. carmelita ). Males of the two species are easily distinguished because the occipital horn in A. carmelita is elongate, with subparallel sides and a weakly to distinctly emarginate apex, and extends to at least the middle of the clypeus ( Fig. 2 ), whereas in A. soror the occipital horn is short, narrowly rounded, and does not reach the middle of the clypeus ( Fig. 36 ). Females can also be distinguished by the presence of a low, longitudinal tumescence lacking a free apex in A. carmelita , while the horn is barely free at its apex in A. soror .

Nomenclature. My examination of the holotype of A. amazonica demonstrated that it was conspecific with A. carmelita , and so it is here placed into new junior synonymy. Kraatz (1898) knew of A. amazonica (then Cotinis ), but thought it was probably based upon a female of C. mutabilis because of its smooth abdomen, whereas his C. brasiliensis was different or a variety. Schenkling (1921) tentatively placed C. brasiliensis in synonymy with A. carmelita , and Krajcik (1998) definitively placed it in synonymy with C. carmelita .

Natural History. Although an abundant species, there is nothing in the literature or on specimen labels to indicate anything about its life history.

Figures

Figs. 1–5. Allorrhina carmelita. 1) Habitus; 2) Male head; 3–4) Parameres; 5) Mesometasternal process.

Figs. 35–38. Allorrhina soror. 35) Habitus; 36) Male, head, arrow indicates occipital horn; 37–38) Parameres.