Allorrhina menetriesii ( Mannerheim, 1829 )

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2015, A Revision of the Neotropical Genus Allorrhina Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (1), pp. 91-113 : 91-113

Allorrhina menetriesii ( Mannerheim, 1829)

( Figs. 14–21 )

Gymnetis menetriesii Mannerheim 1829: 76 , plate 2, figures 8 (male) and 9 (female) (original combination).

Lectotype male, here designated, at ZISP, labeled “ Brasilia /6203”, examined via photograph ( Fig. 15 ). Lectoallotype female here designated, at MZHF, labeled “Brasilia/ Serra da Lapa //female symbol// Menetr.”, examined.

Gymnetis rhinoceros Gory and Percheron 1833: 69 , 328, plate 65, figure 1. NEW SYNONYMY. Type not found. Type locality: “ Brésil.”

Gymnetis cornifrons Gory and Percheron 1833: 69 , 330, plate 65, figure 3. NEW SYNONYMY.

Holotype male at MHNG, labeled “Montivid”, examined. Type locality: “ Montivid ” [ Uruguay].

Gymnetis episcopalis Gory and Percheron 1833: 69 , 331, plate 65, figure 5 (synonym [ Mannerheim 1837]).

Holotype male at MNHN, labeled “Brasilia// Gymnetis episcopalis G&P”, examined. Type locality: “ Brésil.”

Allorrhina baeri Bourgoin 1911a: 133 . NEW SYNONYMY.

Lectotype male at BMNH, labeled: “ Rio Verde / Goyas / Brazil //type // Bourgoin coll.” and with my red lectotype label. Type locality: “Rio Verde, Goyas”. Lectoallotype female at BMNH with same labels as lectotype and with my red lectoallotype label. Two male paralectotypes, one each at BMNH and MNHN, with same data as lectotype and with my yellow paralectotype labels. Lectotypes examined, designated by Ratcliffe (2004).

Allorrhina viridicans Bourgoin 1911a: 134 . NEW SYNONYMY.

Holotype male at BMNH, labeled “ Goyas / Brésil ”, examined. Type locality: “Brésil: Goyaz”.

Allorrhina gounellei Bourgoin 1911b: 230 . NEW SYNONYMY.

Lectotype male at BMNH, labeled “ Serra de Diamantina , Minas, Brazil //Type// Bourgoin coll.” and with my red lectotype label. Paralectotype male at MHNH, labeled: “ Serra de Diamantina, Minas // Brazil //Type// Museum Paris, coll. Gounelle 1915” and with my yellow paralectotype label. Lectotypes examined, designated by Ratcliffe (2004).

Description. Length 18.0– 26.7 mm; width across humeri 10.0– 16.1 mm. Head and pygidium (except on cretaceous areas) dark reddish brown to black with dark green reflections, weakly shiny; pronotum and elytra (except on cretaceous areas) opaque, reddish brown, plum, or dark greenish gray, dark greenish black, or blackish gray. Cretaceous marks as follows: pronotum with slender to broad band on each lateral margin, band not curving around posterior angle; mesepimeron chalky on posterior half; elytra lacking marks; pygidium on each lateral third (rarely completely) with broad band or spot. All cretaceous marks may be variably reduced or absent. Venter and legs shiny, reddish brown to piceous to black, with cretaceous marks as follows: mesepimeron on posterior half; metepisternum and metepimeron completely chalky; metasternum on anterior and posterior margins or lateral fourths; metacoxa on lateral edge; abdominal ventrites 2–5 each with broad, transverse band on lateral thirds, band not reaching midline. All ventral cretaceous marks may be variably reduced or absent, especially in females. Setae of venter and legs tawny. Head: Frons and clypeus of males broadly concave at center, with moderately large, moderately dense, setigerous punctures; setae long, moderately dense, tawny; each lateral margin with laterally compressed, forward-projecting, blunt horn in majors ( Figs. 14 and 17 ), margins an elevated ridge in minors; clypeal apex with prominent, spatulate horn in majors, horn projecting forward and obliquely upwards ( Fig. 17 ); minors with short, subquadrate projection; occipital horn prominent and projecting forwards in majors, dorsoventrally flattened, sides parallel, apex rounded ( Fig. 17 ); minors with horn shorter, tapering to a blunt point. Frons and clypeus of females densely punctate, punctures moderately large to large, setigerous; clypeal apex (in exact dorsal view) broadly subtruncate, strongly reflexed at center; frons distinctly, longitudinally tumid at center. Interocular width equals 5.0–7.0 transverse eye diameters in males (horns tend to reduce eye size), 6.0–7.0 transverse eye diameters in females. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in both sexes. Pronotum: Surface opaque, with small, sparse, round punctures on disc, punctures becoming slightly larger, denser, and crescent-shaped on sides and in angles, especially in females. Lateral margins slightly emarginate between middle and basal angle, with complete marginal bead, bead usually thicker on basal half. Elytra: Surface opaque, most specimens lacking 2 slightly elevated, parallel costae on disc. Disc with distinct, incomplete rows of moderate to moderately large, horseshoe-shaped punctures. Apices at suture weakly, angularly produced. Pygidium: Surface of males shiny, densely, transversely rugose, with minute, tawny setae in pristine specimens; surface on lateral cretaceous areas with dark, transverse, sparse punctures. Females similar except setae slightly longer. In lateral view, surface nearly flat to weakly convex in both sexes. Venter: Metasternum with large, moderately dense, round to crescent-shaped punctures on lateral thirds, center third nearly impunctate. Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, short, parallel to ventral axis of body; in ventral view, sides parallel, apex broadly rounded ( Fig. 18 ), with a few, sparse setae on metasternal portion. Abdominal ventrites 1–5 of males with small to moderately large, sparse to moderately dense, oval to crescent-shaped punctures on shiny areas; punctures slightly denser on sternite 6. Abdominal ventrites of females similar. Legs: Protibia of males tridentate, basal tooth strongly removed. Females with protibia tridentate, teeth subequally spaced. Parameres: In caudal view, form subrectangular, apices broadly rounded, a small tooth before apex ( Figs. 19–20 ). Basal piece twice as long as parameres.

Distribution. Allorrhina menetriesii occurs in southeastern South America ( Fig. 21 ). The records for Pucallpa in Coronel Portillo, Peru and Fazenda Rancho Grande in Rondônia, Brazil (all at CMNC) seem unusually far north for this species and are suspect.

Locality Records. 435 specimens from AMIC, AMNH, BCRC, BMNH, CASC, CMNC, CNCI, DEIC, FMNH, HNHM, IRSNB, JDGC, MACN, MCZC, MHNG, MLPA, MLUH, MNHN, MZHF, MZSP, NMPC, QBUM, RDCC, RMNH, SLTC, UNSM, USNM, WBWC, ZISP, ZMHU, and ZSMC. Some data from Bruch (1911) and Di Iorio (2013). ARGENTINA (165). CHACO (5): Capitán Solari, no data. CORRIENTES (40): Santo Tomé, no data. MISIONES (117): Alto Paraná, Aristóbulo del Valle (Arroyo Cuña-Pirú), Aristóbulo del Valle (Ruta Provincial 220, km 1.8), Azara, Campo Viera, Cataratas del Iguazu, Cuña-Pirú, Dos de Mayo, El Dorado, El Soberbio, Guaraní, Loreto, Puerto Aguirre, Puerto Bemberg, Puerto Iguazú, Puerto Rico, Salto Encantado, San Ignacio, San Pedro, no data. RIÓ NEGRO (1): San Carlos de Bariloche. TUCUMÁN (1): No data. NO DATA (1). BRAZIL (169). BAHIA (1): No data. DISTRITO FEDERAL (1): Brasília. ESPÍRITO SANTO (2): No data. GOIÁS (40): Campinas, Leopoldo de Bulhões, Mineiros, Perineus, Rio Verde, Trinidade, no data. MINAS GERAIS (33): Belo Horizonte, Carno do Rio Claro, Serra da Canastra, Serra da Diamantina, Serra da Lapa, No data. PARANÁ (18): Barro Prêto, Curitiba, Foz do Iguaçu, Ponta Grossa. RIO GRANDE DO SUL (4): Rio Augusto. SANTA CATARINA (40): Nova Teutônia, Rio Vermelho. SÃO PAULO (2): São Paulo, no data. NO DATA (28). PARAGUAY (66). CENTRAL (3): Colonia Thomson. GUAIRÁ (21): Colonia Sudetia, Itapé, Passo Yobai, Villarica. ITAPÚA (1): Vega. PARAGUARÍ (19): Paraguarí, Sapucai, Parque Nacional Ybycuí. NO DATA (22). PERU (3). CORONEL PORTILLO (3): Pucallpa. URUGUAY (3). MONTEVIDEO (2): Montevideo. NO DATA (1). NO DATA (29).

Temporal Distribution. January (32), February (20), March (5), April (10), May (1), June (1), August (2), September (6), October (14), November (49), December (76).

Diagnosis. Allorrhina menetriesii is distinguished by it greater length (18.0 mm or more); opaque pronotum and elytra; presence of cretaceous marks on the pronotum, pygidium, and venter; elytra with distinct rows of moderately large punctures; and males with a short, anteriorly directed horn on each lateral margin of the clypeus ( Fig. 14 ) (reduced in minors).

Nomenclature. Gory and Percheron (1833) described several similar species that seem to differ only by color and pattern. Mannerhiem’ s A. menetriesii shows a broad spectrum of color ranging from reddish brown, plum, dark greenish gray or black and with cretaceous markings variably present on the pronotum, pygidium, and venter. To my knowledge, no one has examined the available types before to tease out the relationship between these names. My examination of the male holotypes of G. cornifrons and G. episcopalis confirmed that their character states are all conspecific with those of A. menetriesii . The holotype of G. cornifrons has the clypeus and its horn broken off (and is so illustrated in Gory and Pecheron 1833), and the holotype of G. episcopalis is simply more reddish than other specimens probably available to Gory and Percheron. I removed G. rhinoceros from Tiarocera Burmeister ( Ratcliffe 2014) , and it is here placed in junior synonymy with C. menetriesii because all the character states are the same between the two. The illustration of G. rhinoceros in Gory and Percheron (1833) shows a male major. Examples of new species and literature were not readily available for study or exchange between workers in the 1830s, and so Gory and Percheron were unaware of Mannerhiem’ s (1829) description of G. menetriesii .

Allorrhina baeri was based upon four specimens, all with reduced cretaceous marks on the pronotum, pygidium, and venter. The three minor males all have a short, subquadrate clypeal horn, an acuminate occipital horn, and a plumpurple color. All the characters states present in these specimens are conspecific with the variation observed in A. menetriesii .

The male holotype of A. viridicans has a faintly metallic green sheen along the elytral suture and the median half of the basal margin of the elytra, hence its name. It also has an acuminate occipital horn that is more typical of male minors, although the holotype is a large specimen. Otherwise, it is identical to A. menetriesii .

The holotype of A. gounellei is an immaculate, minor male. The male paralectotype has traces of cretaceous flecks on the pronotum, pygidium, and metasternum. Both specimens have character states that are all congruous with those of G. menetriesii . The occipital horn is acuminate in both specimens (rather than rounded at the apex).

Natural History. Nothing is known of the life history of this species. Mannerheim (1829) stated his specimens were collected on flowers. While some adults can be found in most months of the year, it is clear that the principal time of activity is from November to February, which is summer in the southern hemisphere.

Figures

Figs. 14–20. Allorrhina menetriesii.14) Habitus; 15–16) Lectotype male and its label at ZISP, photograph by Andrey Frolov; 17) Male, head; 18) Mesometasternal process; 19–20) Parameres.

Fig. 21. Habitat of Allorrhina menetriesii at Chapada dos Guimaraes, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Photograph by E. Abadie.