Stegopterus langebergicus Ricchiardi, Perissinotto & Strümpher, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ricchiardi, Enrico
name: Perissinotto, Renzo
name: Strümpher, Werner
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Stegopterus
Stegopterus langebergicus

description: Stegopterus langebergicus sp. nov.
Fig. 13
Type material.
Holotype. South Africa – WCP • ♂; Boosmansbos Wilderness Area, Saagkuilkloof trail above river canyon; 33°57.85'S, 20°50.41'E; 500 m; 30 Nov. 2015; Fikacek & Vondracek leg.; flowering fynbos and mountain meadows from white flowering plants; TMSA.
Paratypes. South Africa – WCP • 1 ♂ same data as for the holotype; ERPC • 2 ♂; Barrydale; Oct. 1990; C. R. Owen leg.; ERPC • 1 ♀; Barrydale; 1–3 Nov. 1997; Lizler leg.; ERPC • 1 ♂ Tradows Pass, near top of Mt; 1 Jan. 1986; LACM • 1 ♂; Swellendam; 28 Nov. / 1 Dec. 1997; Ivo Jeniš & Milan Krajcik leg.; NHMUK: BMNH-E 2015-37.
Diagnosis.
Stegopterus langebergicus sp. nov. differs from S. fuscus sp. nov., the closest species, by having the clypeal lateral margin rebordered and narrowed toward base. Protibia externally three-toothed, with first two teeth closer than the third. The shape of its parameres is peculiar (Fig. 13 F, G).
Description.
Male (holotype). Measurements. Total length = 15.3 mm; maximum width = 7.2 mm. Body. Stocky, with melolonthinoid shape; black, with some green metallic hue on head, pronotum, scutellum, pygidium and abdomen; antennal scape and legs black, but antennal segments and clubs as well as tarsi brownish; elytra fulvous with lateral margins fringed with black band fading towards apex; large black band also bordering sutural and juxtascutellar margins; striking black band joining anterior external corner of elytra to anteapical humbone; humeral humbones prominent. Head. Clypeus wider than long, glabrous, black with green metallic hue, deeply hollowed and covered with dense round punctures confluent at sides; anterior corner shortly rounded (about 33 % of clypeal length); lateral margin mildly reborded and narrowing towards base; clypeal disc and vertex covered with testaceous, very long, scattered, erect setae; antennal club slightly curved, and 1.1 times the clypeal length. Pronotum. Wider than long, with maximum width posteriorly; surface covered with round, dense punctures, imbricate at sides and with scattered, long, erect testaceous setae. Scutellum. Covered with scattered, round punctures. Elytra. Fulvous, semi-transparent with apicosutural corner rounded; apical margin with some rounded, scattered or dense punctures in places; striae visible and sculptured with round, locally confluent punctures; second interstria with short line of round punctures at middle. Pygidium. Wider than long; surface imbricate and covered with dense, long, testaceous, flattened setae. Legs. Protibia externally tridentate, with two distal teeth closer to each other than to third; mesotibia bent ventrally, with apex bearing a row of reddish-brown, regularly spaced setae; metatibial spurs subequal; second metatarsal segment as long as first. Venter. Abdomen brownish / black in places, without metallic hue, imbricate, covered with long, backwards flattened, testaceous setae.
Paratype (♀) (differences from ♂ only). The female paratype has a stockier body than the HT male, without metallic hue and much reduced setation. The interstriae of the elytra are often shagreened and the antennal clubs are much shorter than the clypeus. The two metatibial spurs are subequal, but each exhibits a widened and rounded apex, the upper one is particularly enlarged, with a concave and spatulate apex.
Type series variability.
Two of the five male paratypes differ from the holotype only in the degree of green metallic hue present. The other two male paratypes resemble the holotype but have a chestnut brown pygidium and show a general absence of setae on their head, pronotum, and pygidium.
Etymology.
This species takes its name from the Langeberg range, where it has been recorded thus far. Noun in apposition.
Distribution.
This species appears to be restricted to the central Langeberg section, between the towns of Swellendam to the south and Barrydale to the north (Fig. 21).
Remarks.
According to label data, specimens were collected on unspecified “ white flowering plants ”.
description: Published as part of Ricchiardi, Enrico, Perissinotto, Renzo & Strümpher, Werner, 2025, Revision of the Western Cape endemic genus Stegopterus Burmeister & Schaum, 1840 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae, Trichiini), pp. 151-191 in African Invertebrates 66 (1) on pages 151-191, DOI: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.66.140593