Blepharotoma Blanchard, 1850

Smith, Andrew B. T., 2008, South American Melolonthinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) classification and nomenclature: some problems and solutions, Insecta Mundi 2008 (60), pp. 1-28 : 3-4

Genus Blepharotoma Blanchard

Blepharotoma Blanchard, 1850: 115 . Type species Blepharotoma tarsalis Blanchard , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Blepharotoma is distinguished from other Melolonthinae using the following combination of characters (see Figs. 1-3 ): Labrum hidden beneath clypeus in dorsal view, labrum separated from clypeus by suture, clypeal margin reflexed; antenna with 8 antennomeres (including 3 antennomere club); mesosternal / metasternal process absent; abdomen with 6 ventral sternites (basal sternite partially hidden by metacoxae), sternites approximately equal in length and evenly convex; males with protarsomeres 1-4 modified into cup-like pads, pads setose ventrally (females lack this modification); metatibiae with 2 apical spurs, spurs set below and above the tarsal articulation (tarsus moves between tibial spurs); all claws symmetrical, apically toothed.

Remark. Historically, this genus has bounced around between Melolonthini, Sericini, Macrodactylini, Liparetrini, and Sericoidini (see Dalla Torre 1913, Frey 1973, Evans 2003, Katovich 2008, etc.). Britton (1980, 1990) and Katovich (2008) provided the most recent definitions and diagnoses of the tribes Liparetrini and Macrodactylini , respectively, but using these definitions and characters provides ample reasons for excluding Blepharotoma from either of these tribes. Using Melolonthinae diagnostic characters (see above) Blepharotoma matches Sericoides Guérin-Méneville in most key respects, besides the structure of the labrum (hidden beneath clypeus in Blepharotoma and widely protruding beyond clypeus in Sericoides ). Based on the character set above and the Neotropical distribution of Blepharotoma , I am here transferring Blepharotoma to the tribe Sericoidini . There is little doubt that Blepharotoma and Sericoides are more closely related to each other than to any other New World Melolonthinae and are placed together in the same tribe pending a complete and long-overdue overhaul of the tribal classification of the subfamily Melolonthinae .

Britton (2000) effectively removed five Neotropical species of Melolonthinae from the (primarily Australian) genus Heteronyx Guérin-Méneville when he stated: “The Brazilian species attributed to Heteronyx resemble that genus in having a dense, uniform clothing of recumbent setae and bifid claws but differ in that the anterior faces of the labrum and clypeus are in the same plane, presenting a single, smooth surface. The three lamellae of the antennal club are elongate and the four proximal segments of the anterior tarsi in the male are broadly expanded and densely setose beneath. These species should be referred to a new genus.”

All of the Neotropical Heteronyx specimens I have examined (for example, Fig. 3 ) and specimens from the type series of Aplodema angustata Blanchard ( Fig. 2 ) have all fallen within the diagnosis given above for Blepharotoma ( Fig. 1 ) and I place them in that genus. It is possible that some of these species are synonyms of species already placed in the genus and a thorough review of the type material for all of the species in Blepharotoma is needed. The species listed below are here transferred to the genus Blepharotoma .

Figures

Figure 1-3. Blepharotoma spp. habitus. 1) B. sp. 2) B. angustata lectotype. 3) B. schencklingi.