Ancognatha horrida Endrödi, 1967

Paucar-Cabrera, Aura & Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2018, The Ancognatha Erichson (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini) of Ecuador, with Description of a New Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 72 (4), pp. 665-687 : 672-673

Ancognatha horrida Endrödi, 1967 ( Figs. 1a , 9–11 )

Ancognatha horrida Endrödi 1967: 409 (original combination). Holotype male at NHMB (Frey Collection) ( Moore et al. 2018).

Redescription. Length 26.0– 27.5 mm (males) and 25.3–27.0 mm (females); width 11.5–11.7 mm (males) and 11.2–12.1 mm (females). Color in both sexes testaceous with variable brown, piceous or black markings ( Fig. 9 ) as follows: Frons black, clypeus occasionally black; pronotum with or without large macula on disc, macula usually emarginate at center apex; scutellum partially or completely piceous; elytra on lateral margins black and with small, black spot on humeral and apical umbones, macula on disc behind scutellum varying from small and elongate to covering almost entire disc. Tarsi brown or black, femora and tibiae brown or black on bases and apices. Head: Frons and clypeus of male finely scabrous, female similar or more commonly with small, dense punctures. Clypeus of male narrowly parabolic, weakly reflexed ( Fig. 1a ), clypeus of female similar or more broadly parabolic. Interocular width equals 3.0 transverse eye diameters in male, slightly less in female. Mandibles elongate, slender, projecting slightly beyond clypeal apex in males; extending to clypeal apex in female. Pronotum: Surface of male nearly smooth or with small, sparse punctures, female with small, sparse punctures. Elytra: Disc of male with punctate striae; punctures small, shallow, double rows indistinct; female with punctures more distinct. First broad interval with wide, irregular field of punctures. Epipleuron of female (ventral view) broad from its base and then abruptly constricted at level of sternites 1–2. Pygidium: Surface of male glabrous, vaguely roughened with small, sparse punctures; surface of female smoother and with small, moderately dense punctures. In lateral view, surface of male weakly convex, nearly flat in female. Legs: Protibia tridentate, basal tooth slightly removed from apical 2 teeth. Venter: Prosternal process long, columnar, apex obliquely flattened into transversely oval disc with elevated “button”, posterior margin of process with long, dense, tawny setae. Parameres: Fig. 10 .

Distribution. Ancognatha horrida is found in Colombia ( Pardo-Locarno et al. 2006) and Ecuador ( Endrödi 1985). Endrödi’ s (1967) holotype is from a locality called “El Tambo”, which could be referring to a locality in Pichincha near Quito or a locality near Catamayo in Loja, but it cannot be determined which province was meant.

Locality Records ( Fig. 11 ). 27 specimens from BCRC, MAHC, MEPN, QCAZ, Endrödi (1967) .

CARCHI (3): El Rosario, Palo Blanco, Hacienda La Breta ~ na (Cantón Huaca, Parroquia Mariscal Sucre) . LOJA (2): San Pedro-Catamayo. NAPO (13): Papallacta, via Salcedo. PASTAZA (1): Puyo. PICHINCHA (2): R´ıo Alambi (Sector Guarumos), Quito. SANTO DOMINGO DE LOS TSÁCHILAS (5): Santo Domingo de los Colorados. NO DATA (1): El Tambo .

Temporal Distribution. February (8), March (3), April (2), June (7), August (1), September (1), October (2), November (1), December (1).

Diagnosis. Ancognatha horrida most closely resembles A. jamesoni but can be distinguished by the shorter clypeus and mandibles in the male; male protarsomere 5 lacking a ventral tooth or ridge (tooth present in A. jamesoni ); male protarsal large claw not flared at about the middle on the ventral side (claw ventrally flared in A. jamesoni ); pronotum smooth or sparsely punctate (densely punctate to finely shagreened in A. jamesoni ); female epipleuron, in ventral view, relatively broad from its base and abruptly constricted at the level of sternites 1–2 (epipleuron simple in A. jamesoni ); and the form of the parameres (compare Figs. 10 and 21 ). In caudal view, the flared base of the parameres of A. horrida is only slightly wider than the subapical, angulate expansion, while in A. jamesoni the flared base is distinctly wider, although not nearly as wide as illustrated in Endrödi (1985).

The recently described Ancognatha corcuerai Figueroa and Ratcliffe ( Figueroa and Ratcliffe 2016) from Peru is similar in color and pattern to that of A. horrida but can be distinguished by its smaller size (22–25 mm versus 26–27 mm in A. horrida ), the punctate frons and clypeus in the male (finely scabrous in A. horrida ); nearly smooth, polished pronotum in the female (pronotum with small, sparse punctures in A. horrida ); and form of the parameres of A. corcuerai that have a noticeably long, subrectangular apex (elongate but apices rounded and not subrectangular in A. horrida ).

Natural History. Nothing is known about the natural history of this uncommon species.

Figures

Fig. 1. Ancognatha species, clypeus and mandibles, dorsal view. a) A. horrida, b) A. jamesoni c) A. lutea, d) A. scarabaeoides.

Figs. 9–11. Ancognatha horrida. 9) Habitus; 10) Parameres; 11) Distribution in Ecuador.

Figs. 19–22. Ancognatha jamesoni. 19) Lectotype, female, habitus; 20) Lectotype labels; 21) Parameres; 22) Distribution in Ecuador.