Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus) sevoistra Alluaud, 1902

Harrison, J. Du G., Scholtz, C. H. & Chown, S. L., 2003, A revision of the endemic south-western African dung beetle subgenus Scarabaeus (Pachysoma) MacLeay, including notes on other flightless Scarabaeini (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), Journal of Natural History 37 (3), pp. 305-355 : 348

Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus) sevoistra Alluaud, 1902

( figures 17 , 34 , 52, 73)

Scarabaeus sevoistra Alluaud, 1902: 250 .

Neateuchus sevoistra (Alluaud) : Gillet, 1911b: 309.

Neomnematium sevoistra (Alluaud) : Janssens, 1938: 71; Paulian, 1953: 27; Paulian and Lebis, 1960: 13; Ferreira, 1961: 26; Mostert and Holm, 1982: 275.

Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus) sevoistra Alluaud : Mostert and Holm, 1982: 275.

Diagnosis. Clypeus quadridentate, clypeal teeth pointed, but blunt ended; clypeus and genae punctate-striate; small protuberance on frons ( figure 34 ); protibia quadridentate, and markedly sexually dimorphic; no serrations between or proximal to protibial teeth, male protibia, serrated on inner edge and with prominent inward protuberance distally ( figure 52), spurs simple in both sexes; pronotal disc smooth, but impressed with circular punctures; shortest elytral length to pronotal length ratios of any flightless Scarabaeini ; very faint sub-elytral ridge, elytral rim and striae faint; no metatarsal claws were available for examination. Paulian (1960) includes a habitus diagram where the mesotarsal claws are shorter than the last tarsal segment, but the metatarsus are not illustrated. Male genitalia illustrated in figure 73a, b.

Distribution and habitat. Only recorded from the south-west of Madagascar, in semi-arid bush veld ( figure 17 ).

Comments on locality records. Mostert and Holm (1982) map Scarabaeus sevoistra in the north-east of Madagascar. According to the NIMA GEOnet Names Server ( Roher, 1999) there are 60 Marovato, four Ambovombe and eight Androy localities in Madagascar. However, Faux Cap (Betany) is used only once in Madagascar, and thus all localities were chosen from the semi-arid bush veld of south-western Madagascar.

Morphology. S. (Scarabaeus) sevoistra differs from the other flightless Scarabaeini in that the head resembles Kheper species. The absence of serrations on the outer edge of the protibia is another characteristic shared with Kheper species. The mesotarsal claws are typical of Scarabaeus species, i.e. two curved claws, but no metatarsal claws were available for examination. A single metatarsal claw would place this species with Kheper rather than Scarabaeus . Mesocoxae semi-contiguous (0.58 mm; 1 ♀), and separated by a depression. Mesosternal ridge present, but more reduced than S. (Scarabaeus) ritchiei , S. (Scarabaeolus) silenus and S. (Scarabaeolus) scholtzi .

Biology. Foraging and feeding biology unknown. However, the mouthpart morphology suggests wet dung feeding.

Comments. S. (Scarabaeus) sevoistra is one of three Scarabaeini recorded from Madagascar, the other two species include Scarabaeus radama Fairmaire, 1895 which

Figures

FIGS 14–17. Distribution of flightless Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) and Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus) species in Africa, the Middle East and Madagascar. (14) S. (Scarabaeolus) scholtzi in Somalia. (15) S. (Scarabaeolus) silenus in Sinai, Syria, and Iraq. (16) S. (Scarabaeus) ritchiei in Libya. (17) S. (Scarabaeus) sevoistra in Madagascar. See figure 2 for distribution of S. (Scarabaeus) cancer in Angola.

FIGS 18–35. (18–30) Head of Scarabaeus (Pachysoma) species in dorsal view: (18) S. (P.) aesculapius. (19) S. (P.) hippocrates. (20) S. (P.) glentoni. (21) S. (P.) endroedyi. (22) S. (P.) striatus. (23) S. (P.) gapiepinus. (24) S. (P.) bennigseni. (25) S. (P.) schinzi: (a) female, (b) male. (26) S. (P.) valeflorae: (a) female, (b) male. (27) S. (P.) fitzsimonsi. (28) S. (P.) rotundigenus. (29) S. (P.) rodriguesi. (30) S. (P.) denticollis. (31, 32) Head of flightless Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) species in dorsal view. (31) S. (Scarabaeolus) scholtzi. (32) S. (Scarabaeolus) silenus. (33–35) Head of flightless Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus) species in dorsal view. (33) S. (Scarabaeus) ritchiei. (34) S. (Scarabaeus) sevoistra. (35) S. (Scarabaeus) cancer.