Aphodius (Liothorax) wilsonae Mate, stat. rest.
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 wilsonae

description: Aphodius (Liothorax) wilsonae Maté & Angus, 2005, stat. rest.
Figs 4 g, 5 k, 6 k, l, 9 h, i, 16 c, d, 17 w, 18 o, 21 u – w, 23 g – i, 24 o, 26 d ’, e’, 33 m-p, 34 k, l
Aphodius (Liothorax) wilsonae Maté & Angus, 2005: 329.
Type material examined.
Holotype ♂, SP Provincia de Burgos, Balneario de Corconte, 40.031 ° N, 3.884 ° W, 26. iv. 2001. leg. R. B. Angus (NHMUK). Paratypes: SP: Provincia de Madrid, Manzanares el Real, Embalse de Santillana, 40.720 ° N, 3.857 ° W, 1. iv. 2003, sieving detritus from edge of water, leg. R. B. Angus & G. I. Aradottir, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 unsexed (NHMUK).
Other material examined.
SP Provincia de Cantabria, Areños, 43.112 ° N, 4.724 ° W, 5. vi. 2012. By digging mud under dried-out pool. 1 ♂. Leg. R. B & E. M. Angus; Provincia de Burgos, S of Balneario de Corconte, strandline detritus. 1. iv. 2014. leg. R. B. Angus. 1 ♂ (NHMUK); Provincia de Álava, Vittoria au Mt Gorbea, 34.634 ° N, 2.782 ° W, Juin 1879. 1 ♀ (MNHG); Provincia de Madrid, Puerto de la Morcuera, 40.828 ° N, 3.399 ° W. 15.1 v. 1997. 2, unsexed (NMP).
P: Monchique, Algarve, 37.317 ° N, 8.557 ° W. 6–13. v. 1910, leg. K. Jordan. 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (NHMUK); Serra de Estrela, 40.326 ° N, 7.708 ° W. leg. H. Fery. 2 ♂♂, 1 unsexed (ZSM).
Differential diagnosis.
Endophallic teeth conspicuously shorter than in all other species, ca as high as long. Length of longest teeth ca 35 μm (Fig. 23 g – i, 24 o), as against at least 40 μm in other species.
Redescription.
General appearance (Fig. 4 g). Length 3.3–4.8 mm (♂), 3.8–5 mm (♀), width 1.6–2.1 mm (♂), 1.7–2.2 mm (♀). Black without obvious paler edges to head, antennae, palpi, and legs black to very dark brown. Head with the frontoclypeal suture very fine, often more or less effaced, laterally almost always so, and without tubercles. Clypeus bulging upwards medially, with double punctation, this finer on disc. Epipharynx (Fig. 9 h, i) with anterior margin of clithra strongly emarginate either side of the projecting median tylus, with a few very fine acropariae. Chaetopedia well-developed, stout, 6–8 each side. Chaetopariae shorter and thinner than chaetopedia, forming a closely-set line each side. Apophobae forming a line of very fine hairs outside the chaetopariae, prophobae lying in small inconspicuous groups near the sides of the mesoepitorma.
Head and pronotum (Fig. 6 k, l): pronotum highly arched transversely and generally distinctly arched longitudinally, giving a somewhat domed appearance, the hemicylindrical appearance less usual than in other Liothorax species. Surface of pronotum bulging outwards laterally so that the lateral margins are sometimes not visible from above in their basal 1 / 3 s. Surface with double punctation, the strength of this variable, from rather fine (Fig. 5 k) to distinctly coarser.
Scutellum elongate, pentagonal, glossy with a few punctures medially.
Elytra black, interstices with very fine reticulation (Fig. 17 w) and widely separated fine punctures, ca 8 × the width of the striae. Striae glossy, vertical-sided, with punctures separated by ca 2 × their diameter and encroaching on the vertical sides of the striae (Fig. 16 w). Metaventrite (Fig. 21 u – w) with central diamond-shaped area bearing sparse fine or moderate punctures and often small patches of reticulation. No obvious sexual dimorphism. Legs dark brown, longer spur of mesotibiae clearly slightly longer than basal segment of mesotarsus (Fig. 18 o).
Aedeagus (Figs 23 g – i, 24 o). Length ca 1.1 mm, paramere length ca 0.43 mm, basal piece length ca 0.69 mm, length of endophallic tooth-field ca 0.37 mm, length of longest teeth ca 35 μm.
Remarks.
Aphodius wilsonae stat. rest. is widely distributed mainly on higher ground in the northern half of Spain and Portugal, but with some material from the Algarve (this location needs to be verified by future sampling; Fig. 29 a). It is generally taken in the spring and early summer, either in detritus at the edges of water bodies (Fig. 27 f), or at the roots of vegetation where pools have dried out. It is sometimes very abundant.
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