Aphodius (Liothorax) bellumgerens 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 bellumgerens

description: Aphodius (Liothorax) bellumgerens sp. nov.
Figs 4 f, 6 j, 9 f, g, 16 d, 17 u, 18 r, 21 l, m, p – t, 24 m, n, 25 e, 26 z, 32 f – i
Type material examined.
Holotype ♂: Sicily. Parco delle Madonie. Piano Battaglia. At edges of pool. 1. v. 2013. R. B. & E. M. Angus. Chromosome prep. 7: 8. v. 2013 (NHMUK). Length 3.9 mm, width 1.8 mm. Paratypes: 7 ♂♂, 8 ♀♀, same data as holotype. Chromosome preparations 1–8, 7. v. 2012, 1–6 and 8, 8. v. 2012 (NHMUK). 7 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, same data as holotype but 23. iv. 2018 (NHMUK), 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data (NMP); 12 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀, Sicily, Nebrodi, Monte Soro, 1600 m a. s. l. 25. iv. 2018. R. B. & E. M. Angus. Chromosome preparations 1–4, 27. iv. 2018, 1–5, 1. v. 2018, 1–5, 2. v. 2018, 1–4, 10. v. 2015 (NHMUK). 1 ♂, Sicily, Nebrodi, leg F. Krell (DMNS). 3, data as holotype (sequenced) (JFMC); 1 SICILY, Nebrodi, Monte Soro, 1600 m a. s. l. 25. iv. 2018. R. B. & E. M. Angus. Chromosome preparation 4, 27. iv. 2018 (Sequenced) (JFMC).
3 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, 37 unsexed: ITALY, Sicily, Monte Soro, Tumpelufer, welkes Laub. 1800 m NN 30. 5. 1993 leg. U Schaffrath (ABC & JFMC).
Differential diagnosis.
Most similar to A. felix, from which it is shown to be different because of its clearly larger X chromosome (Fig. 32 f – i, a – e). The slightly smaller aedeagus, with the endophallic tooth-field clearly shorter than the parameres (Figs 23 p – t, 24 m, n) is also distinctive.
Description.
General appearance (Fig. 4 f). Length: 3.6–4.4 mm (♂), 4.0– 4.8 mm (♀), width: 1.65–1.95 mm (♂), 1.7–2.0 mm (♀). Glossy black, apical segments plus claws of tarsi dark brown.
Head with no trace of reticulation but with sparse double punctures, the punctures separated by ca 2 × the diameter of the larger punctures. Frontoclypeal suture indistinct but present, without tubercles but slightly raised at ends of median section, before turning to run to the anterior margins of the genae. Anterior margin of clypeus emarginated medially, rounded at sides of the emargination. Antennae and palpi black. Epipharynx (Fig. 9 f, g) with anterior margin of clithra emarginate each side of projecting median tylus, with a few fine acropariae. Chaetopedia 4 or 5 each side, stout. Chaetopariae forming a single line each side, closely set, stout. Apophobae forming a narrow band of fine setae outside the chaetopariae, prophobae in a narrow field each side of the mesoepitorma. Head and pronotum (Fig. 6 j): pronotum: surface either smooth and glossy as head or slightly dull, with double punctation, size of the large punctures stronger than on head, but variable, these punctures separated by ca 2 × their diameter. Small punctures tiny dots. Mid-line impunctate or with very fine punctures. Pronotum more or less hemicylindrical, highly arched transversely, in mid-line weakly arched longitudinally. Sides of pronotum bulging outwards in basal 1 / 3, so that the basal 1 / 3 of the lateral margins is not visible from above. Lateral margins completely bordered, this border extending along lateral 1 / 3 of basal margin as a very fine impressed line. Median 1 / 3 of basal margin without an impressed border, as in the A. wilsonae shown in Fig. 16 d. Scutellum pentagonal, sides parallel in basal 1 / 2, then converging to blunt apical point. Elytra: sides either almost parallel over basal 2 / 3 or more distinctly rounded to widest point 2 / 3 of the way from the base, bluntly rounded to apex. Interstices flat, ca 6 × the width of striae, glossy black, sometimes with very fine reticulation, especially over basal 1 / 4 (Fig. 17 u). Sutural interstices weakly raised to suture. Striae narrow, shallow, the strial punctures scarcely impinging on their margins. Median diamond-shaped plate of metaventrite with sparse fairly fine punctures, sometimes flattened in males or with a median depression in females (Fig. 21 l, m).
Legs: Long spur of mid tibiae clearly longer than basal segment of tarsi, exceeding it by a distance approximately equal to the width of the basal margin of the second tarsal segment (Fig. 18 r). Spines on apical margin of posterior tarsi short and even on outer / ventral face, longer, sparser, and more irregular on inner / dorsal face.
Aedeagus (Figs 23 p – t, 24 m, n) Length ca 0.9–1.1 mm, paramere length ca 0.43–0.47 mm, basal piece length ca 0.5–0.6 mm, tooth field length ca 0.3–0.4 mm. This is one of the few species in which the length of the endophallic tooth-field is less than that of the parameres. Longest teeth on endophallus ca 47 μm long.
Etymology.
bellumgerens – Latin, waging war, adjective, named for the type locality, Piano Battaglia (the battlefield).
Remarks.
So far known only from Sicily (Fig. 29 a). Many of the types were taken by swishing the water at the edges of the pool on the Piano Battaglia, washing the beetles from the banks so that they floated on the water. This pool dries out completely in the summer. The Monte Soro specimens were floating and clinging to plants in a shallow pool, following recent rain (Fig. 27 g). We have seen specimens from Calabria (Sta Christina, Cippo di Garibaldi) which are apparently morphologically identical but have not been included in the type series due to the scarcity of material and lack of karyological or molecular data. RBA has recently received living material from Calabria: Villaggio Mancusa, 39.10727 ° N, 16.64085 ° E, from which chromosomes indicating A. felix, not A. bellumgerens have been obtained. These data will be published in due course.
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