Onthophagus durangoensis Balthasar, 1939

Arriaga-Jiménez, Alfonsina, Escobar-Hernández, Fernando, Rös, Matthias & Kohlmann, Bert, 2020, The establishment of the Onthophagus anthracinus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) species complex and the description of a new species, The Canadian Entomologist 152 (1), pp. 1-17 : 12

Onthophagus durangoensis Balthasar, 1939

In their catalogue of the Onthophagini of the Western Hemisphere, Pulido Herrera and Zunino (2007) placed O. mextexus Howden and Cartwright, 1970 in synonymy with O. durangoensis Balthasar, 1939 . However, O. mextexus is reported to be distributed from Texas, United States of America to Puebla, Mexico, and therefore does not match the toponymy given by Balthasar (1939) of Durango. Moreover, the description of O. durangoensis is clear that it has an apically shiny and punctate pygidium with the rest of the surface alutaceus and nearly impunctate ( Balthasar 1939: 45–46). These are one of the main characteristics given by Howden and Cartwright (1963) to differentiate O. knulli Howden and Cartwright, 1963 from O. mextexus . It would seem, therefore, that Pulido Herrera and Zunino (2007) confused O. knulli with O. mextexus , establishing an incorrect synonymy.

The two specimens (male and female) Balthasar (1939) used for his original description carry labels reporting the type locality as Canelas, Durango ( Bezděk and Hájek 2013). Balthasar (1939) also made the comment that his new species probably pertained to group 8, as established by Boucomont (1932).

A photographic comparison of the types of O. durangoensis ( Figs. 12 , 15 , 18 ) (taken by Jiří Hájek), with O. knulli and O. monticolus (taken by Serge Laplante), confirms without doubt that O. mextexus is a valid species and not a synonym of O. durangoensis , as erroneously established by Pulido Herrera and Zunino (2007). It also revealed that O. durangoensis and O. knulli are conspecific, based on the pronotal puncture pattern seen in the photographic analysis. Therefore, we correct this error and establish the following new synonymy: O. knulli Howden and Cartwright, 1963 = O. durangoensis Balthasar, 1939 .

This species has been reported for Arizona and New Mexico in the United States of America and Durango, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Morelos, Federal District, and Oaxaca in Mexico. It is here reported for the first time for Sinaloa, Mexico based on three female specimens from Copala, 7.vii.1968, Halffter, Martínez, Reyes (Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa collection). The presence of O. durangoensis in Oaxaca merits confirmation, because intensive collecting by A.A.-J. in this state over the last years has not produced any specimens of this taxon. Martínez-Falcón et al. (2018) report it (as O. knulli ) for the Juniperus Linnaeus ( Cupressaceae ) forests of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. This is probably an identification error; O. mextexus and O. alluvius have been reported for this state ( Delgado and Márquez 2006).

Figures

Figs 7–12. Species in the Onthophagus anthracinus species complex. 7, Pygidium of male Onthophagus alluvius; 8, pronotum of a male Onthophagus alluvius; 9, pygidium of male Onthophagus mextexus; 10, pronotum of a male of Onthophagus mextexus; 11, metasternal midline of a male Onthophagus alluvius; 12, metasternal midline of a male Onthophagus durangoensis.

Figs 13–15. Species in the Onthophagus anthracinus species complex. 13, Male pronotum of Onthophagus etlaensis; 14, male pronotum of Onthophagus anthracinus; 15, dorsal view of a male Onthophagus durangoensis.

Figs 16–20. Aedeagi of the Onthophagus anthracinus species complex. 16, Onthopagus alluvius; 17, O. anthracinus; 18, O. durangoensis; 19, O. etlaensis; 20, O. mextexus.