Copris convexiusculus Shipp, 1897

Takano, Hitoshi, 2021, Taxonomic notes concerning the genus Catharsius Hope, 1837 (Scarabaeidae Scarabaeinae), Zootaxa 5052 (2), pp. 280-286 : 284

Copris convexiusculus Shipp, 1897

This species was described by John William Shipp [note his initial “I.” in the original description is an error] from a single specimen collected by Arthur Donaldson Smith on his expedition through Somalia and Ethiopia. The specimen was captured on 19 th March 1895 between “Aimola and Himo”, but as Donaldson Smith kept exceptionally accurate records of each specimen he collected ( Jordan 1897) it is possible to pinpoint the type locality to 4°01’N, 40°09’E, an area in modern day Ethiopia very near the Kenyan border, by cross-referencing the label data with the maps detailing the route of his expedition ( Donaldson Smith 1897).

This taxon was placed in the genus Catharsius by Gillet (1911) and listed as such in Ferreira’s works on the genus (1960, 1972), but on examination of the holotype (by original monotypy) housed in MTD (and not BMNH as stated by Ferreira), it has become apparent that this species belongs in the genus Metacatharsiu s Paulian, 1939. Catharsius species can easily be separated from those of Metacatharsius by the presence of three striae on the ventral surface of the protibia; the striae are completely absent in Metacatharsius . Based on the above, the following new combination is established: