Aphodius (Liothorax) bameuli Angus, Maté, Angus & Král, 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Angus, Robert B.
name: Maté, Jason F.
name: Angus, Elizabeth M.
name: Král, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Aphodius
Aphodius bameuli

description: Aphodius (Liothorax) bameuli sp. nov.
Figs 4 d, 6 g, 8 g, 16 a, x, 18 k, l, u 21 p – r, 23 j – l, 24 b, 25 f, 26 w, x, 33 a – d, 34 h
Type material examined.
Holotype ♂: Corsica, Haute-Corse, pelouse (lawn) grassland by the Lac de Melo. Cow dung. 19. vi. 2011. R. B. and E. M. Angus. Chromosome prep. 2, 29. vi. 2011. R. B. Angus (NHMUK). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, data as holotype, 1 labelled Chromosome prep. 1, 29. vi. 2011. R. B. Angus; 4 ♂♂, data as holotype but 24. vi. 2011; 14 ♀♀, data as holotype, including Chromosome preps 1–4, 28. vi. 2011, 6–9, 28. vi. 2011 and 1–3, 1. vii. 2011, R. B. Angus; 1 ♀, data as holotype (NMP); 11 ♀♀, data as holotype but 24. vi. 2011; 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, data as holotype but 30. vi and 1. vii. 2009, R. B. and E. M. Angus. ♂ Chromosome preps 1 and 2, 6. vii. 2009, ♀ Chromosome preps 3–5, 5. vii. 2009 (NHMUK). 1 ♂ data as previous (NMP); 1 ♂, data as holotype but 24. vi. 2011, in F. Krell collection (DMNS). 3 Corsica, Haute-Corse, pelouse (lawn) grassland by the Lac de Melo. Cow dung. 19. vi. 2011. R. B. and E. M. Angus (sequenced) (JFMC); 7 ♂♂, 23 unsexed, “ 18. vii. 1983. Corse. Lac de Nino 1743 m. Rinderkot. Leg. H. Fery ”. In H. Fery collection (ZSM); 2 unsexed, “ France Corse Nino-See 1730 m. 12. vii. 1987. Leg H. Hirschfelder. ” In H. Fery collection (ZSM). In CZC and JFMC: 1 ♂ 1 ♀, 1 unsexed France: Corsica Plateau d´Alzo 1500 m 42 ° 16 ' N, 9 ° 04 ' E 21 / V / 1994 leg. C. Zorn.
Differential diagnosis.
The parallel-sided, hemicylindrical, lightly sculptured appearance (Fig. 4 d) is distinctive. The pronotal sides bulge outwards laterally so that the lateral margins are not visible from above in basal 1 / 2 of the pronotum. The lateral margins themselves are parallel, only very slightly convergent anteriorly. The general shape of the beetles and their pronotal configuration resembles those of A. niger and A. muscorum (Fig. 4 a, b), but these species are more heavily sculptured.
Description.
General appearance (Fig. 4 d). Length: 4.0– 4.6 mm (♂), 3.9–4.8 mm (♀); width: 1.7–1.9 mm (♂), 1.6–2.0 mm (♀). Glossy black, tarsi, tibial spurs dark brown, femora and tibiae dark brown with black-bronze reflections. Head: dorsal surface domed, flatter behind frontoclypeal suture. Medial area of clypeus more demarcated as a dome than in A. felix. Frontoclypeal suture distinct, completely non-tuberculate but with distinct smooth elevated areas each side of the median straight section and a weaker elevation medially. Genae rounded, strongly protuberant laterally in front of eyes. Clypeus with rounded median emargination, angles either side of this rounded. Clypeus and genae with strong raised margin, this slightly brownish. Surface strongly and more or less evenly punctuate, the punctures separated by ca 1.5 × their diameter, and finer medially. Antennae and palpi more or less black. Epipharynx (Fig. 8 g) clithra evenly excised either side of the median tylus, chaetopedia with 4–6 spines, these slightly less robust than those of A. felix and spines of chaetopariae as long as or longer than chaetopedia. Head and pronotum as in Fig. 6 g. Pronotum hemicylindrical, highly arched transversely but more or less flat longitudinally, lateral margins more or less parallel, but very slightly convergent anteriorly, weakly and very evenly curved. Pronotal surface bulging outwards from the general curvature over the basal 1 / 2 of the pronotum, ca 1 / 4 of the way in from each side, so that the lateral margins are not visible from above in the basal 1 / 2 of the pronotum (Fig. 6 g). Lateral margins with distinct raised border that continued very finely over the lateral ca 1 / 3 of the basal margin, at least the median 1 / 3 of which lacks any border (Fig. 16 a). Anterior margin without any trace of a raised border. Surface with double punctation of variable strength, but in general weaker than in L. felix sp. nov., though the strength of the punctation of the two species overlaps. Larger punctures separated by 2–4 × their diameter, sometimes very strongly impressed and with the pronotal surface depressed immediately round their edges, but sometimes more moderate and with the pronotal surface evenly curved around them. Finer punctures dot-like, in some specimens separated from one another by ca 2 × their diameter but in other specimens much sparser, separated by 4–6 × their diameter. Pronotal surface between the punctures with a silky sheen and a very fine, generally indistinct, small, isodiametric reticulation.
Scutellum elongate, pentagonal, ca 10 % of elytral length, glossy black with brownish lateral and apical edges, and with sparse punctures medially.
Elytra glossy black but the interstices slightly duller than head and pronotum, appearing slightly silky and with a very fine indistinct isodiametric reticulation sometimes visible. Striae narrow (ca 1 / 5 the width of the interstices), vertical sided and with punctures separated by ca 2 × their diameter. In the two ♂♂ the punctures bulge into the interstices but in the 3 ♀♀ they hardly deflect the strial margins. Lateral margins of the elytra distinct, at base strongly upcurved in front of the humeral bulges; stronger basally and at apex ca as wide as stria 2. Interstices 4 × as wide as striae, with fine sparse punctation (Fig. 16 x), which is a bit stronger in the humeral area in front of abbreviated stria 9.
Legs (Fig. 18 k, l, u) dark brown with bronze-black reflections and tarsi and tibial spurs brown, rather long and slender, basal segment of hind tarsi as long as segments 2 + 3 + 1 / 2 of segment 4. Longer spur of mid tibiae longer than basal segment of mid tarsi.
Metaventrite (Fig. 21 p – r): median diamond-shaped area rather lightly punctate, without pubescence, its mid-line either almost indistinguishable or variably depressed, sometimes forming a distinct longitudinal furrow up to 1 / 3 as wide as the median point of the diamond. There is no sexual dimorphism.
Aedeagus (Figs 23 j – l, 24 b) Length ca 1.2 mm, paramere length ca 0.45 mm, basal piece length ca 0.76 mm, length of endophallic tooth-field ca 0.4 mm. Length of longest teeth on endophallus ca 44 μm.
Etymology.
Named after our good friend Dr Franck Bameul of Bordeaux, who accompanied RBA and EMA to the Lac de Melo on the 24. vi. 2011 and was with us as we all endured a prolonged and spectacular thunderstorm.
Remarks.
Aphodius bameuli sp. nov. is endemic to Corsica (Fig. 29 a) and, as far as we know, is the only Liothorax definitely associated with dung. On the Melo lawns (Fig. 27 e) it occurred in cow pats, avoiding the more liquid regions towards the centre of the dung. It ate the dung, which filled the guts of specimens used for chromosome work. Hans Fery (pers. comm. ix. 2015) told us that when he collected it by the Lac de Nino the water was very high, covering the lakeside lawns but that the cow pats protruded above the water surface and that is where the beetles were found. RBA and EMA failed to find it in the cow dung on the lawns in the valley of Pozzi (Ghisoni), further south.
It is an elongate, parallel-sided, and lightly sculptured species.
description: Published as part of Angus, Robert B., Maté, Jason F., Angus, Elizabeth M. & Král, David, 2024, Towards a revision of the Palaearctic species of Aphodius Hellwig, 1798, subgenus Liothorax Motschulsky, 1860 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Aphodiinae), pp. 205-299 in ZooKeys 1207 on pages 205-299, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1207.117225