Rhytomus vanus Saxton & Genier 2025, new species
Creators: name: Génier, François
name: Gunter, Nicole L.
name: Saxton, Natalie A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Rhytomus
Rhytomus vanus

description: Rhytomus vanus Saxton & Génier, new species
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: CD0A0711-1AC6-4D0B-8CE9-C54C31A001EA
Figs. 4D, 7I, 8I, 10D
Name-bearing type data. Holotype ♂ (CMNC): || PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Madang | Baitabag (8 km N.W.) | 100m, 30.I.2000 | 5°08’19”S 145°46’34”E | R.S.Anderson, rainforest litter | RSA2000-027 ||; || Canadian Museum of | Musée canadien de la | NATURE | CMNEN 00049581 || [QR code label]; || HOLOTYPE ♂ | Rhytomus | vanus | Des. N. Saxton & F. Génier, 2024 || [red card].
Material examined (4♂♂, 1 ♀). PAPUA NEW GUINEA: MADANG PROVINCE, Baitabag, 8 km NW Madang, 100 m, 05°08’19’’S, 145°46’34’’E, 30.i.2000, rainforest litter, R.S. Anderson, (RSA2000-027) — ♂ holotype, ♀ allotype, 3 ♂♂ paratypes (CMNC).
Description. Measurements. Body length 3.3–3.6 mm, maximum body width 2.1–2.3 mm. Holotype: body length 3.6 mm, maximum body width 2.3 mm. Body. Overall body shape in dorsal view oval, elytral edge evenly rounded from base to apex. Head. Clypeal edge lateral to clypeal teeth lacking emargination, head margin at clypeogenal suture of females moderately protruding. Dorsal parts of eyes semi-ovoid, separated by an interocular space of about 4.8 times eye width. Pronotum. Pronotal width to length along midline ratio 1.9, lateral pronotal edge sharply defined throughout, pronotal pubescence short and fine, pronotal basal portion along midline lacking fine longitudinal depression. Elytra. Elytral maximum width to length along suture ratio 1.0, elytral outline moderately convex in lateral view, elytral pubescence short and fine, elytral surface between punctures with distinct microsculptures, basal elytral pit wide and deep (Fig. 4A), basal surface of pseudepipleuron with irregularly distributed more or less defined punctures or with sharply defined simple punctures (by misinterpretation), interstriae 3–5 on basal fifth with scattered unaligned punctures on interstriae 3 and 5 and two rows of punctures along striae with the odd unaligned punctures on interstria 4. Legs. Profemoral anterior surface flat or deeply furrowed (by misinterpretation), male metatibial apicointernal tooth approximately in line with posterior tibial edge.
Pygidium. Pygidial surface along midline with punctures similar in density to rest of discs, pygidial surface along basal groove smooth between punctures (Fig. 8I), pygidium of female depressed apically. Aedeagus. Left paramere apex truncated apically, distinctly angular externally (Fig. 10D).
Etymology. Vānus is a Latin adjective. It is used here in the sense of “suspicious, doubtful” which pertain to the previously unrecognized status of this new species.
description: Published as part of Génier, François, Gunter, Nicole L. & Saxton, Natalie A., 2025, Rhytomus Génier & Saxton: A new dung beetle genus from New Guinea with five new species and phylogenetic insights (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), pp. 87-110 in Zootaxa 5575 (1) on page 106, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5575.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/14746442