Phyllophaga (Phyllophaga) lissopyge (Bates, 1888)

Vallejo, Luís Fernando & Wolff, Martha, 2013, The genus Phyllophaga Harris (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) in the Colombian Andean Mountains, Zootaxa 3722 (2), pp. 101-142 : 115-116

9. Phyllophaga (Phyllophaga) lissopyge (Bates, 1888)

Redescription. Body length: 21.8–26.1 mm. Dark blackish-brown to reddish-brown. Frons shiny; with punctures deep, irregularly distributed. Clypeus is shiny, irregularly and coarsely punctate; with scattered, minute setae. Antennae have 10 antennomeres, with three-antennomere club ( Fig. 37 ). Pronotum dull or slightly shiny, pruinose; with scattered round, deep, punctures, and widely sinuate anterior border. Elytra are dull, pruinose, rugose, and punctate; with minute setae in each puncture, and some scattered, medium-sized setae towards the apical borders of the elytra suture. Pygidium is uniformly but moderately convex; shiny, irregularly punctate; with scattered, minute setae. Tarsal claws with large prebasal tooth, are acute and slightly curved ( Fig. 38 ). Parameres are short; not bifurcated; with short, tooth-like ventrolateral projections; ventro medial projections are large ( Fig. 40 ); laterodistal borders are usually widely curved, slightly projected at middle; ventrolateral projections are flattened, with rounded apex, separated by a distance equal to that of the basal width of ventromedial projection. Aedeagus ( Fig. 40 ) has a large, dorsal, sclerotized longitudinal plate ending in a long preapical, erect, sclerotized, hook-like structure; this structure is strongly curved, with irregular dorsolateral rows of short setae; preapical membrane does not have dense patches of spines.

Comments. Bates (1888) described this species based on two males specimens collected at Chontales, Nicaragua and near Volcán Chiriqui in Panama. This species is similar to P. rugipennis but differs in the pygidium structure, and dorsal surface with scattered round, deep, punctures. Morón (2001) reported a great similarity to P. chorotega but different proportions in the antennal club and parameres, as well as the dorsal structure of the aedeagus of P. laeviscutata . Morón commented that Phyllophaga lissopyge is usually found on mountain slopes (620– 2,130 m in elevation) in cloud forests, tropical rain forest, and coffee plantations.

In a recent study analyzing P. lissopyge male behavior with sexual pheromone traps (Morales et. al. 2011), the species was recorded for the first time in South America.

Geographic record. Departamento de Antioquia: Municipio de Rionegro, Centro de Investigación “La Selva,” Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (2,150 m). August-December 2003; January- September 2004. Anuar Morales-Rodriguez, 7 males, 2 females.

Figures

FIGURES 37 – 40. Phyllophaga lissopyge diagnostic structures, right antenna, (37), metatarsal claw (38), right metatibia (39), male genital capsule, lateral view (after Morón 2001). Scale: 1 mm.