Onthophagus (Furconthophagus) shaykh Montanaro & Ziani 2022, new species
Creators: name: Montanaro, Giulio
name: Ziani, Stefano
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Onthophagus
Onthophagus shaykh

description: Onthophagus (Furconthophagus) shaykh Montanaro & Ziani, new speciesurn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 4E816A13-9047-4F05-B0DC-F588306958C0
(Figs. 1–11)
Onthophagus furcatus?: d’Orbigny, 1898: 163;
Onthophagus (Furconthophagus) aethiopicus: Ziani et al., 2019: 12.
Type locality: Yemen, Sana’a.
Type series. Holotype ♂: Yemen, Sana’a Governorate, Sana’a, Mujamma zone, urban garden near Algiers Street, 2268m, 15°20’17.21”N – 44°11’25.32”O, 1–15.v.2010, Ingo Brunk legit [KSMA]. Allotype: idem [KSMA]. Paratypes (84 ♂♂, 78 ♀♀): YEMEN: Sana’a Governorate, Sana’a, Mujamma zone, urban garden near Algiers Street, 2268m, 15°20’17.21”N – 44°11’25.32”O, 1–15.v.2010, Ingo Brunk legit [4♂♂, 7♀♀, GMOC]; idem [1♀, NMPC]; idem [1♀, ZFMK]; idem [2♀♀, JSSG]; ibidem, 20.iv.2010, Ingo Brunk legit [1♂, 1♀, JSSG]; Sana’a Governorate, Haddah, 2413m, 15°17′24″N – 44°09′59″E, 11–20.xi.2003, D. Král legit [21♂♂, 17♀♀, NMPC]; idem [1♂, 2♀♀, SZCM]; Sana’a Governorate, Wadi Dhahr, 2240m, 15°26′43″N – 44°07′34″E, 15–17.xi.2003, David Král legit [25♂♂, 20♀♀, NMPC]; idem [1♂, SZCM]; idem [1♂, 1♀, MCSNTS]; idem [1♂, 1♀, MSNG]; Sana’a Governorate, Alharf, 55km south of Sa’dah, 2000m, 28.iv.1994, F. Calame legit [1♂, 4♀♀, MHNG]; idem [1♂, SZCM]; Ta’izz, 1500m, i.1970, J. Beneteau legit [1♂, MHNG]; Sana’a Governorate, Sana’a city, 2410m, 15°16.3’N – 44°12.1’E, 2410m, 6.xi.2010, J. Bezdĕk legit [1♀, NMPC]. OMAN: Jebel Samhan, 1100–1200m, 16– 18.x.2005, R. Červenka legit [24♂♂, 19♀♀, NMPC]; idem [1♂, GMOC]. SAUDI ARABIA: Asir Province, Abha, Raydah Nature Reserve, 2820m, 18°12.265′N – 42°24.744′E, 5.iii.2015, A. El Torkey, A. El Gharbawy, A. Mostafa, A. Al Ansi & I. Rasool legit [1♂, SZCM]; Shada Al-A’Ala Nature Reserve, 1611m, 19°50.411′N – 41°18.686′E, 8.xii.2014, H. Al Dhafer, H. Fadl, M. Abdel-Dayem, A. El Torkey & A. El Gharbawy legit [1♀, SZCM].
Type depositories: holotype and allotype are preserved in KSMA.
Type labelling: 1 st label: white, printed in black: “ YEMEN, Sanaa: Mujamma / Zone, nahe Algier-str., Garten / 2268m 15°20’17.21”N- / 44°11’25.32”O / 1-15.V.2010 Ingo Brunk legit”; 2 nd label: white, first two lines handwritten in black, third line printed in black: “O. (Furconthophagus) / aethiopicus d’Orb. / G. Montanaro det. 2019”; 3 rd label: red, printed in black in Arial Narrow, in bold: “ HOLOTYPE / Onthophagus / (Furconthophagus) / shaykh nobis / G. Montanaro & S. Ziani, 2022”.
Description. Holotype (♂) (Figs. 1, 3, 5–8): elongated, moderately convex; body surface pilose; colour dark brown with dark cupreous lustre, surface strongly microreticulated and dull, dorsally; blackish brown and shiny, ventrally; antennae blackish brown. Length: 5.5 mm. Head. Broad, subhexagonal, maximum width at about 1/2 of genae; dorsal surface shining. Antennae with 9 segments. Eyes small, approximately as wide as 1/22 of head width. Clypeus strongly toothed, the teeth obtuse, slightly upturned, the angle between them obtuse; lateral margins of epistome slightly upturned, rounded on the whole, and very slightly sinuate at clypeogenal suture. Clypeal surface covered with scattered, granulose setigerous punctures intermixed with much smaller simple punctures, laterally; smoother, with only small punctures, medially; frons and genae sparsely granulated. Frons with a low, evenly rounded carina placed in front of eyes and occupying a little less than the interocular width, connected at the extremities to clypeogenal carinae; these latter extending posteriorly towards the vertex and expiring before it. Vertex with a very high carina placed clearly behind eyes, bent backwards, and as long as the interocular width; extremities of the carina bearing two long, almost parallel, erect horns, their tips slightly turned posterointernally, their surface carrying scattered granules; middle of the carina projected anteriorly and produced into a lamella slightly sinuated apically, about as wide as 1/5 of the width of the carina. Pronotum. About 1.6 times wider than long, moderately convex, with a longitudinal impression on the posterior two thirds; lateral margins sinuated a little before anterior angles in dorsal view; posterior angles evenly rounded in dorsal view, very slightly sinuated in lateral view; a shallow fovea is present at a small distance from the middle of the lateral edge. Base broadly rounded, finely bordered, with a single row of flat simple punctures along it; on each side of the base is present a small, slightly flattened area covered by sparse, flat, simple or slightly granulose punctures. The rest of the surface entirely covered with coarse setigerous granules, quite sparse posteromedially (separated by 3–5 times their diameter) and becoming progressively denser and coarser anteriorly and laterally (separated by ca. 2 diameters); on approximately the basal half of disc, each granule is placed on the anterior edge of a feebly impressed flat point; anteriorly and laterally the punctures become gradually more strongly impressed and their edges indistinct, giving rise to a vaguely variolic inter-granule surface. Anterior declivity very steep, with a feeble longitudinal medial carina, slightly and broadly impressed at each side of the carina; its superior edge with a median sharp gibbosity connected to that carina. Elytra. About 1.16 times longer than pronotum, slightly convex on the whole. Striae moderately broad, strongly marked and punctuated, the punctures slightly larger than the width of the striae. Interstriae slightly convex, the interstria 1 more markedly swollen towards the apex; surface finely granulated, granules setigerous, roughly disposed in two rows on disc. Reddish spots present on the base of interstriae 2 (small and inconspicuous), 4, 6 and 7, and on the apex of interstriae 2–4, 6 and 7. Epipleura of the same colour of elytral surface. Pygidium. Slightly wider than long, entirely bordered; covered by dense, large and strongly impressed setigerous simple punctures, separated by 1 or less than 1 time their diameter; punctures smaller near the base. Legs. Inferior surface of femurs with few setigerous punctures. Fore tibiae with 4 external teeth, the space between them crenulated; apical spur slightly bent outwards; apicointernal tip with a small and sharp tooth. Inferior body surface. Anterior hypomeral carina reaching directly, slightly curving outwards, the anterior pronotal angle. Mesosternum covered with dense, small simple punctures. Metasternum with few scattered, almost simple setigerous punctures; with a broad and blunt prominence, anteriorly; with a shallow, longitudinal median impression, posteriorly. Sternites microreticulate, with few simple to granulose punctures on their anterior edge. Genitalia. Parameres quite slender; apices strongly bent downwards, in lateral view (Fig. 6); apices simple and parallel, in dorsal view (Fig. 7). Lamella copulatrix with three branches fused apically (Fig. 8): a slender and sinuous left branch, a digitiform and apically lobular middle branch, and a broader, ribbon-like right branch; in addition, an almost transparent, expanded branch overlapping with the basal part of the middle branch. Endophallus basally bearing ill-defined, raspula -like sclerifications.
Allotype (Figs. 2, 4, 9). Length: 5.6 mm. Head. Clypeal surface entirely covered with granulose punctures or granules, slightly rugose; clypeal teeth sharper than in the holotype. Frontal carina stronger than in the holotype; carina of the vertex high, quadrangular, produced at the extremities, a little shorter than interocular width. Pronotum. Granulation coarser and denser than in the holotype, especially anteriorly; pronotum more evenly convex, anterior declivity less steep than in the holotype, with a somehow cuspidate, blunt prominence in the middle, close to the anterior edge. Legs. Apicointernal edge of fore tibiae simple, without a sharp tooth. Pygidium. Distinctly wider than long. Genitalia (Fig. 9). Sclerotization of the infundibular wall thin, horizontal, slightly expanded medially. Infundibulum thick, strongly bent distally. Apex of the vagina gently wrinkled. Receptaculum seminis elongated, moderately curved, expanded apically, basal “collar” somehow shaped as a “flute mouthpiece” (see Zunino 1979: 10, “« colletto » […] a becco di flauto ”).
Variability. Length ranges from 3.5 to 5.6 mm. Colour of integument can have a more or less intense dark cupreous lustre; few specimens show very feeble dark greenish reflections. Elytral colour ranges from blackish to reddish brown; elytral spots can be more or less indistinct, especially at base; the one at the base of the interstria 2 is often absent. However, spots are difficult to be seen if specimens are not perfectly clean and degreased. Pronotal granulation can be more or less coarse, the surface between granules more or less variolic; bigger females tend to have a coarser and denser granulation. Elytral sculpture also shows some degree of variation in coarseness, yet less than the pronotal one. Male armaments show a noticeable degree of allometric variation: biggest males have a prominent lamella contiguous to the carina of the vertex; in individuals with decreasing body size, horns shorten, the lamella between them becomes a tubercule placed in front of the carina of the vertex and more or less clearly separated from it, and the carina decreases in height; in even smaller males, the tubercule disappears completely and horns become gradually shorter, down to the smallest males, in which the carina is only slightly pointed at the extremities or even completely simple. The pronotal median prominence also decreases with body size, disappearing completely in small males. In females of decreasing body size, the carina of the vertex becomes gradually less high and less pointed at the extremities, and the pronotal median prominence decreases, becoming almost imperceptible in the smallest specimens.
Etymology. In Arabic, shaykh (, literally: “elder”) is an honorific given to a leader or a governor, usually the chief of an Arab tribe, family, or village. Noun in apposition.
Distribution and ecology. The new species seems to be an endemic of the Arabian Peninsula, being known from Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia (see Fig. 11). Probably, the historic record of O. furcatus (Fabricius, 1781) from Saudi Arabia (d’Orbigny 1898) must be referred to O. shaykh, new species. The new species seems to be restricted to the mountainous regions of the southern part of the peninsula, since all of the studied specimens come from an altitude of at least 1100 meters above sea level. The specimens from the type locality were collected in an urban garden (Fig. 10) in the centre of Sana’a city, suggesting that this species can live well also in quite anthropized and degraded environments. One specimen from Yemen was collected inside unspecified excrements, which suggests that the species is at least coprophagous. Other specimens were collected at light. It would not be surprising to discover that O. shaykh, new species, as the closely allied (see below) and quite generalist O. furcatus, has occasionally necrophagous habits.
description: Published as part of Montanaro, Giulio & Ziani, Stefano, 2022, A new species of Onthophagus Latreille, 1802 endemic to the Arabian Peninsula (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Onthophagini), pp. 421-428 in Zootaxa 5125 (4) on pages 422-426, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5125.4.5, http://zenodo.org/record/6450945