Golofa clavigera ( Linnaeus, 1771 )

Hielkema, Auke J. & Hielkema, Meindert A., 2019, An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the Guianas, Insecta Mundi 732 (732), pp. 1-306 : 195-196

Golofa clavigera ( Linnaeus, 1771)

Scarabaeus claviger Linnaeus 1771: 529 ( India)

= Golofa guildinii Hope 1837a: 44 ( Saint Vincent)

= Golofa puncticollis J. Thomson 1860b: 40 ( French Guiana)

Distribution. Guyana: Endrödi 1977b: 75. Suriname: Blackwelder 1944: 259 (as G. claviger ); MHCN; RMNH; NBPS. French Guiana: Hope 1837a: 44 (as G. claviger ); Thomson 1860b: 40 (as G. puncticollis ); Dechambre 1983: 4 (as G. claviger ); Endrödi 1985a: 651; Céspedes and Ratcliffe 2010: 74; Duranton 2011: 23 (as G. claviger puncticollis ); Ponchel 2011: 61 (as G. claviger puncticollis ); Brûlé and Dalens 2012b: 37 (as G. clavigera punctatissimus Arrow, 1908 ); Dupuis 2016b: 110 (as G. claviger puncticollis ). “Guianas”: Arrow 1937b: 101 (as G. puncticollis ); Blackwelder 1944: 259 (as G. puncticollis ). Brazil: Endrödi 1977b: 75, 1985a: 651; Dechambre 1983: 4 (as G. claviger ); Céspedes and Ratcliffe 2010: 74. Venezuela: Dechambre 1983: 4 (as G. claviger ); Céspedes and Ratcliffe 2010: 74. Other: Linnaeus 1771: 529 (India - as Scarabaeus claviger ); Hope 1837a: 44 (Saint Vincent - as G. guildinii ); Arrow 1937b: 100 (none - as G. claviger ; Antilles - as G. guildingi ); Blackwelder 1944: 259 (Ecuador? - as G. claviger ; Saint Vincent - as G. guildingi ); Endrödi 1977b: 75 (Colombia, Panama, Peru - as G. clavigera ; Lesser Antilles - as G. clavigera guildingi ), 1985a: 651 (Colombia, Panama, Peru - as G. clavigera ; Lesser Antilles - as G. clavigera guildingi ); Dechambre 1983: 4 (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Saint Vincent - as G. claviger ); Céspedes and Ratcliffe 2010: 74 (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).

Note 1. Hope (1837a: 44) dedicates a species of Golofa to the “late Rev. Lansdown Guilding.” In the introduction of the genus on p. 42 and in the species description, the name Golofa Guildinii is used. This name is emended to G. guildingi in Arrow (1937b: 100) . Ratcliffe and Cave (2015: 291), attributing this emendation to Endrödi (1977b: 75) (who himself referred incorrectly to Arrow (1911a: 137)), call this emendation unjustified without explaining their reasoning. The ICZN (1999: 39) governs such emendations through Article 32.5.1, and as the original spelling is not the result of a lapsus calami or a copyist’s or printer’s error, this article does not allow for an emendation. We thus agree with Ratcliffe and Cave (2015).

Note 2. As Ratcliffe and Cave (2015) also state that the genus Golofa does not occur in the West Indies, Hope’s specimen either belongs to the nominotypical and only remaining form, or to a now extinct Antillean form. Hope (1837a) states in his introduction of the genus on p. 42 that G. Guildinii is “not unfrequent in the Isle of St. Vincent,” but in Ratcliffe and Cave (2015) it is questioned whether the specimen really originated on Saint Vincent.

Note 3. The name of this species is spelled as Golofa claviger as well as G. clavigera , depending on the author using it. Linnaeus (1771: 529) describes the species as Scarabaeus claviger and this spelling is retained by Hope (1837a: 44), who incorrectly attributes the name to Fabricius and places it in the newly erected genus Golofa . According to Hope (1837a: 42), golofa is “the provincial name under which it is known to the natives of Venezuela.” According to Article 30.2.4 of the IZCN, the gender of Golofa is thus feminine, which means that the correct spelling of the specific name, which is derived from Latin, should be clavigera .

Note 4. Brûlé and Dalens (2012b: 37) mention the subspecies Golofa clavigera punctatissimus Arrow, 1908 , but the genus Golofa does not contain any taxon with the (sub)specific name “ punctatissimus .” There exists a species with the name Lonchotus punctatissimus Arrow, 1908 (p. 337), but this taxon belongs in the tribe Pentodontini and is restricted to Madagascar. The appearance of this name in Brûlé and Dalens (2012b) is thus obviously an error.

Note 5. The only record of Golofa clavigera for Guyana is given in Endrödi (1977b: 75), while that publication does not mention French Guiana. In Endrödi (1985: 651) Guyana is no longer mentioned, while French Guiana is. We suspect that Endrödi made an error in copying data from other authors into his former publication, which he corrected in the latter. Although the species may well occur in Guyana, we regard it as not yet reported from there.