Phyllophaga (Phyllophaga) onoreana Morón, 2003

Vallejo, Luís Fernando & Wolff, Martha, 2013, The genus Phyllophaga Harris (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) in the Colombian Andean Mountains, Zootaxa 3722 (2), pp. 101-142 : 118

11. Phyllophaga (Phyllophaga) onoreana Morón, 2003

Redescription. Length 23.3 mm. The species has an elongate-oval body, a strong appearance, and bright black dorsal coloration and dark chestnut-brown ventral coloration. Numerous minute punctures are present on the dorsal side of the elytra with pronounced margins, as well as a couple of raised stretch marks creating transversal divisions on the dorsal surface. The pronotum ( Fig. 51 ) is expanded, wider than it is long, with an irregular, mid anterior margin with a crenulated, glabrous surface. The clypeus ( Fig. 51 ) is bilobed, concave, with raised margins and a densely punctate surface; the vertex is roughly punctate. Eyes are large and globulous; antennae ( Fig 52 ) have 10 antennomeres with a very short, compact antennal club. The protarsal claws ( Fig. 53 ) are cleft with a long, sharp interior tooth; the pretarsal has sets of long, fine dorsal and ventral setae. Protibiae ( Fig. 54 ) are wide, flattened, with two lateral teeth, the first tooth slightly narrower than the second. Metatibiae ( Fig. 55 ) are long and wide and have two spurs, of which the inner is shorter than the outer and is fused with the tibia; mid and basal portion with toothed carinae. The pygidium ( Figs. 56–57 ) is wide and evenly convex. The fifth abdominal sternite has few setae on its sides. The male genital structure is easily differentiated, with a compact male genital capsule ( Figs. 58–60 ), wide base to the phallus, with a strongly sinuous dorsal-distal margin and a projected dorsal-basal margin. Parameres ( Fig. 60 ) are long, wide, and sharp with two very sharp tips distally that are totally covered when the membranous tissue that joins them retracts. Aedeagus with sclerotized, Y-shaped structure projecting from the basal section, differentiated by its dark color and from which a membranous duct is emitted, ending in a crown of minute spines ( Figs. 58–60 ). The complete structure appears wide, compact, and strongly sclerotized.

Comments. Phyllophaga onoreana was originally collected in Cotopaxi, in the Ecuadorian Andes. Morón (2003) described the species based on five specimens. In Colombia, this species was collected feeding on the foliage of a coffee bush, in the coffee-growing municipality of Fresno in the Department of Tolima. No species were previously considered to be of agricultural importance within the P. schizorhina group, reiterating the importance of increasing basic knowledge of Phyllophaga onoreana , including its life cycle, specific feeding habits, and geographic distribution.

New geographic record. Departamento del Tolima: Municipio de Fresno, veredas La Picota (1,325 m) and La Mireya (1,400 m) September, 2010, Fernando Vallejo, cafetal, 4 males, 1 female.

Figures

FIGURES 51 – 60. Phyllophaga onoreana adult male. Pronotum, dorsal view (51); left antenna (52); right protarsal claw (53); right protibia (54); right metatibia (55); abdomen, posterior dorsal view (56), ventral view (57); male genital capsule, left lateral view (58), right lateral view (59), frontal view (60). Scale: 1 mm.