Rhytomus fervidus Saxton & Genier 2025, new species
Creators: name: Génier, François
name: Gunter, Nicole L.
name: Saxton, Natalie A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Rhytomus
Rhytomus fervidus

description: Rhytomus fervidus Saxton & Génier, new species
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 27C09598-572B-4AF0-904F-59067A688C08
Figs. 4B, 7A, 8A, 9B, 11A, 11D, 11E, 12B
Name-bearing type data. Holotype ♂ (CMNC): || PAPUA NEW GUINEA | Western highlands, Mt. | Hagen, 6000’ | 5-8.VII.1974, S.Peck | oak forest dung tps. 24-25 ||; || Canadian Museum of | Musée canadien de la | NATURE | CMNEN 00049283 || [QR code label]; || HOLOTYPE ♂ | Rhytomus | fervidus | Des. N. Saxton & F. Génier, 2024 || [red card].
Material examined (20 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀). PAPUA NEW GUINEA: WESTERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE, Mount Hagen, 1829 m, [05°52’ S, 144°14’E], 5–8.vii.1974, oak forest, dung traps, S. Peck, (dung traps 24-25)— ♂ holotype, ♀ allotype, 12 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀ paratypes (CMNC), 6 ♂♂, 1 ♀ paratypes (MNHN), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ paratypes (QM).
Description. Measurements. Body length 4.2–5.0 mm, maximum body width 2.6–3.1 mm. Holotype: body length 4.7 mm, maximum body width 3.0 mm. Body. Overall shape in dorsal view oval, elytral edge evenly rounded from base to apex. Head. Clypeal edge lateral to clypeal teeth lacking emargination (Fig. 4C), head margin at clypeogenal suture of females slightly protruding. Dorsal parts of eyes semi-ovoid, separated by an interocular space of about 3.9 times eye width. Pronotum. Pronotal width to length along midline ratio 1.9, lateral pronotal edge sharply defined throughout, pronotal pubescence short and fine, pronotal basal portion along midline lacking fine longitudinal depression. Elytra. Elytral maximum width to length along suture ratio 1.0, elytral outline moderately convex in lateral view, elytral pubescence short and fine, elytral surface between punctures appearing glossy, at most with ill-defined microsculptures (Fig. 12B), basal elytral pit slightly wider than stria 10 and shallow (Fig. 11D), basal surface of pseudepipleuron with irregularly distributed more or less defined punctures (Fig. 11E), interstriae 3–5 on basal fifth with scattered unaligned punctures. Legs. Profemoral anterior surface flat, male metatibial apicointernal tooth approximately in line with posterior tibial edge. Pygidium. Pygidial surface along midline with punctures absent or distinctly more scattered than rest of discs, at least basally, pygidial surface along basal groove smooth between punctures (Fig. 8A), pygidium of female depressed apically. Aedeagus. Left paramere apex truncated apically, distinctly angular externally (Fig. 9B). Female genitalia. Spermatheca with two apodemes basally.
Etymology. The specific epithet for this species is the masculine nominative Latin adjective meaning “boiling hot” or “fiery” in reference to the type locality, which is near an old composite volcano.
description: Published as part of Génier, François, Gunter, Nicole L. & Saxton, Natalie A., 2025, Rhytomus Génier & Saxton: A new dung beetle genus from New Guinea with five new species and phylogenetic insights (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), pp. 87-110 in Zootaxa 5575 (1) on page 96, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5575.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/14746442