Neocorvicoana chalybea (Blanchard) 1850

Ratcliffe, Brett C. & Micó, Estefania, 2001, A Review Of The Neotropical Genus Neocorvicoana Ratcliffe And Micó, New Genus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 55 (3), pp. 279-296 : 284-292

Neocorvicoana chalybea (Blanchard) 1850 , new combination

Figs. 1 , 5 , 6 , 9 , 12

Gymnetis chalybea Blanchard 1850:37 .

Holotype male at MNHN (Paris), examined .

Heteropodia suavis Schürhoff 1933:95 .

Lectotype male and lectoallotype female at ZSMC (Munich), examined and with Ratcliffe’s label; two paralectotype males at ZMHU (Berlin) , examined and with Ratcliffe’s label. New synonymy.

Heteropodia castanea Schürhoff 1933:95 .

Holotype male in the Schürhoff collection which is in the Frey Collection ( MGFT) (Munich at the time of examination, now in Basel), examined. New Synonymy.

Description. Male ( Fig. 1 ). Length 9.9–11.8 mm; width across humeri 6.1–6.6 mm. Color of dorsal surface, legs, thoracic sternites, and maculae on abdominal sternites metallic light green (4 specimens) or blue (1 specimen) with strong reflections of metallic orange (and occasionally with flecks of blue in green specimens) and with black or dark reddish brown punctures; one specimen black with reddish brown pronotum and with blue edges on elytra and pygidium . Head: Frons densely punctate to rugopunctate, punctures moderately large, setigerous; setae dense, moderately long, tawny. Clypeus with surface moderately punctate; small punctures scattered over entire surface, large punctures present only either side of middle and setigerous; setae sparse, short to moderate in length, tawny; apex moderately to deeply emarginate at middle, lobes either side of middle rounded or narrowly rounded. Interocular width equals 3.5 transverse eye diameters as viewed from above. Antenna 10­segmented, club distinctly longer than segments 2–7. Pronotum: Surface densely punctate to rugopunctate in non­metallic areas (usually disc either side of middle) and sparsely to moderately punctate on metallic areas; punctures in black areas moderately large, round to inversely U­shaped, setigerous; setae dense, moderately long, tawny; punctures on metallic areas both small and moderately large mixed (as on clypeus). Lateral marginal bead entire, extending from posterior angle and wrapping completely around anterior angle. Basomedian lobe not covering all of scutellum (e.g., Fig. 5 ). Mesepimeron with sparse, moderately large punctures; punctures round to crescent­shaped, coalescing medially, setigerous; setae sparse, short, tawny. Elytra: Metallic surface with sparse, small punctures and with large to very large, inversely U­shaped punctures surrounded by large to very large, dark reddish brown spot; punctures sparse to coalesced (especially medially), setigerous; setae sparse, short, tawny. Sutural costa elevated, especially in posterior half. Apices subacutely rounded, not spinose. Pygidium: Surface with moderate to large punctures only on metallic surface (similar to those on sides of pronotum); punctures inversely U­shaped, setigerous; setae sparse, minute to short, tawny. In lateral view, surface nearly flat. Legs: Foretibia tridentate ( Fig. 6 ), basal tooth widely separated from others. Foretarsus slightly longer than foretibia. Meso­ and metatarsi each slightly longer than their respective femora. Tarsomeres ventrally with distinct patches of short, dense, tawny setae. Venter: Mentum and procoxae with tawny setae. Mesometasternal process flat (nearly invisible because of covering of dense, long, tawny setae), short, not extending anteriorly beyond mesocoxae, apex subacute in lateral view, broadly rounded in ventral view. Center of abdominal sternites each with transverse field of moderately dense, small, setigerous punctures; setae dense, moderately long, tawny. Lateral edges of sternites with sparse, setigerous punctures; setae sparse, short, tawny. Parameres: Figure 9 .

Female. Length 17.0 mm; width across humeri 7.0 mm. Does not differ appreciably from male except for foreshortened tarsomeres.

Distribution. Neocorvicoana chalybea occurs in western Bolivia and southeastern Brazil.

Locality Records ( Fig. 12 ). 6 specimens examined from the following collections: BCRC, MGFT, MNHN, ZSMC. BRAZIL (1): MINAS GERAIS (1): Jaboticatubas ( Serra do Cipo´ ). BOLIVIA (3): LA PAZ (4): Coroico, No data. NO DATA (1). ERRONEOUS DATA (1): Chiriqui [ Panama].

Temporal Distribution. November (1).

Remarks. Neocorvicoana chalybea is easily separated from other species of Neocorvicoana by the metallic blue or green markings on the dorsal surface in combination with the presence of setae on the central third of the abdominal sternites. The parameres ( Fig. 9 ) are also diagnostic.

Other than ‘‘Amerique Meridionale, Castelnau 1845,’’ the type specimen of N. chalybea is without locality data. Castelnau’s travels in South America began in Rio de Janeiro, and he journeyed northwest to Goias and then west to Santa Cruz and La Paz in Bolivia during 1844–45 ( Papavero 1971). Although Castelnau’s expedition later went on to other places in South America, this first part of his route nearly connects the two known localities for this species in Brazil and Bolivia. We believe it is reasonable to assume that the type specimen came from somewhere along this path.

The holotype of C. castanea (Schürhoff) was labeled ‘‘Chiriqui’’ which is in Panama, an area in which this genus does not occur. Schürhoff (1933) thought the label was in error as do we. This specimen is a melanistic form of N. chalybea .

Schürhoff (1933) referred to a specimen of H. suavis (now N. chalybea ) from ‘‘Corvico, Bolivia,’’ and the allotype and one of the paratypes bear this hand written label. This is apparently a misspelling of Coroico in the Department of La Paz because there is no location called Corvico in Bolivia. Strand (1934) used this misspelling to rename the genus during some nomenclatural ‘‘house cleaning’’ when he discovered that Heteropodia Schürhoff was a primary junior homonym of another genus.

This species is known from only six specimens, and additional collecting is needed to discover the female as well as more precisely characterize the distribution.

Figures

Fig. 1. Habitus of N. chalybea (Schürhoff), male.

Figs. 4–5. Dorsal view of pronotum, mesepimeron, and scutellum. 4) N. reticulata; 5) N. chalybea.

Figs. 6–8. Dorsal view of left foretibia and tarsus. 6) N. chalybea male; 7) N. reticulata (a) male and (b) female; 8) D. tricolor (a) male and (b) female.

Figs. 9–11. Parameres [caudal view (a) and lateral view (b)]. 9) N. chalybea; 10) N. reticulata; 11) N. tricolor.

Fig. 12. Distribution map of the species of Neocorvicoana.