Atrichelaphinis (Heterelaphinis) quadripunctata (Lansberge, 1882)

Rojkoff, Sebastien & Perissinotto, Renzo, 2015, Review of the genera Anelaphinis Kolbe, 1892 and Atrichelaphinis Kraatz, 1898 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), ZooKeys 482, pp. 91-142 : 102

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Scarabaeidae

Atrichelaphinis (Heterelaphinis) quadripunctata (Lansberge, 1882) Figures 5and 6

Elaphinis quadripunctata Lansberge, 1882: 24; Ritsema 1888: 225; Kolbe 1897: 180; Antoine 1991: 2; Marais and Holm 1992: 11.

Atrichelaphinis quadripunctata (Lansberge) Marais & Holm, 1989: 30; Marais and Holm 1992: 11; Krajcik 1998: 50.

Cetonia quadripunctata (Lansberge) Antoine, 2002: 185.

Type specimen.

Marais and Holm (1992) mentioned two paralectotypes: one in the BMNH collections and one in the MNHN. The male specimen housed in the MNHN shows the following labels: "Somali, Ouarsangueli, Revoil 1881, Museum Paris/1598 81"; and "Lectotype, Elaphinis quadripunctata van Lansberge, Ph. Antoine det 88". There is, however no reference to this designation in the publications of Antoine (1991, 2002), apart from a mention of the lectotype in the legend to Figure 21 of Antoine (2002). Consequently, in order to settle the status of the species, the male illustrated in Figure 5 is here designated as Lectotype and a new label is added to the two described above, reading: "Lectotype, Elaphinis quadripunctata van Lansberge, Rojkoff & Perissinotto 2014". Four other specimens, identified as Elaphinis quadripunctata by Antoine in 1994, were found in the MNHN collections. Two females have the same label as the lectotype and are here designated as paralectotypes. The last specimens, one male missing pronotum and head and a female are only labelled "Ex-Musaeo Van Lansberge" and "Museum Paris, ex. Coll. R. Oberthur". It is possible that these specimens belong to the type series, but as this could not be confirmed during this study, they cannot be designated as paralectotypes here.

Redescription

(n = 7). Size: length LT ♂, 11 mm; width 5.5 mm.

Head. Dark brown with blackish areas, strongly sculpted, converging points forming deep striae; clypeus longer than wide, lateral and anterior margins strongly reborded, anterior slightly upturned and very slightly bilobed, lateral margins almost carinate in the basal part, then curved downwards, depressed in the middle and reborded in the apical part as the anterior margin, clypeal disc convex; frons with large striated protuberance between eyes, vertex with few smooth jointed areas between striae in apical part, posterior part only punctate; antennae brown with long clubs (as long as the flagellum in male).

Pronotum. Transverse, dark brown with transverse points of sculpture, disc poorly punctate, sculpture becoming more dense and confluent to striae in front and laterally; anterior margin slightly wider than head, medially slightly tuberculate; lateral margins reborded with very smooth lateral angles in posterior third; posterior margin bisinuate (concave in front of scutellum), posterior angles rounded.

Scutellum. Dark brown, longer than wide, apex acute, smooth, only a few setigerous points on lateral angles (scale pilosity); laterally grooved.

Elytra. Orange with four black markings, one on side of scutellum, one at middle split on each costa (discal and humeral), one on apical quarter near the suture and last on spiny apex; costae convex, smooth with only few points, discal costa incomplete, humeral costa concave to suture with concavity reaching elytral disc; sculpture of small longitudinal lines (near scutellum) and of horseshoe points in anterior half, becoming confluent posteriorly and leading to two formations: 1) laterally (i.e. between humeral costa and lateral margin) transverse lines becoming longer and denser toward apex; 2) longitunal lines between sutural and humeral costae becoming more numerous and strigillate towards apex; few minute and very short setae near apex.

Pygidium. Transverse, chestnut brown; sculpture horseshoe-like to annulate points drawing large irregular circles towards apex, some transverse striae along apex; few minute and very short setae.

Underside. From dark brown to chestnut brown, sculpture setigerous with long whitish pilosity, not dense except on femora and laterally on sternites 2-5; sculpture sparce, crescent on metasternum, denser to confluent laterally, disc poorly sculpted; abdomen with horseshoe sculpture, median part almost smooth, denser laterally near the margin; posterior coxae reborded laterally, setigerous sculpture made of transversal to backward-curved striae; mesosternal apophysis glabrous, transverse with minute points, strongly compressed between mesocoxae but not protruding; male abdomen concave with visible groove on sternites 2-5.

Legs. From dark brown to chestnut brown, with whitish pilosity; protibiae bidentate, meso- and metatibiae with median carina; profemora strigillate, mesofemora with crescent punctures or small striae, long setigerous stria along internal margin; metafemora slightly dilated with crescent punctures or small striae; all tarsal segments longer than first, metatarsi spiny, claws normal.

Aedeagus. Parameres fused and short, with two carinated lateral spines at apex, apical centre with short protrusion.

Remarks.

Only the MNHN type specimens are known. No recent material was found in the collections examined. Unfortunately, Lansberge (1882) did not specify the number of specimens used for his description. The specimen length indicated in his work does not match the measurements reported above. This difference cannot be explained at this stage, but it is possible that Lansberge (1882) may have only provided a coarse estimate, without accurate measurement. The female is larger than the male; its abdomen does not exhibit a deep groove but there are occasional sligth depressions on sternites III and IV, otherwise it varies from flat to slightly convex. The main difference between the two sexes lies in the metatibial spurs, which are strongly enlarged in the female (especially the upper one, spatuliform when thin), but acute and curved at the apex in the male. Nothing is known about the biology of this species, but the adult is probably a flower visitor.