Ontherus (Ontherus) araujoi Chamorro, Lopera, & Genier 2024, new species
Creators: name: Chamorro, William
name: Lopera-Toro, Alejandro
name: Génier, François
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Ontherus
Ontherus araujoi

description: Ontherus (Ontherus) araujoi Chamorro, Lopera, & Génier, new species   
(Figs. 1A–D, 2A–C, 4)  
 Holotype. Male deposited in MEPN; labeled as: || ECU: LOJA: Catacocha | Paltas, 4° 02’ 16.34’’ S | 79° 48’ 01.76’’ W, 1150 m | 8.II.2020, W. Chamorro | Pitfall human faeces ||; || HOLOTYPE ♂ | Ontherus | araujoi | dés. Chamorro, Lopera & | Génier, 2024 || red card.   
 Paratypes. 1 male and 1 female deposited in MEPN; same data as holotype. 1 male deposited in CMNC; same data as holotype.   
 Etymology. The name “ araujoi ” is an eponym for Pablo Araujo, biologist-entomologist, founder of the “Entomological section Escuela Politécnica Nacional” (Quito Ecuador) and a great researcher of Carabidae beetles.   
 Diagnosis. The male of O. araujoi is similar to Ontherus azteca Harold, 1869 and Ontherus cambeforti Génier, 1996, but it differs by the following characteristics: (1) apical tooth directed forward (anteriorly) and with the apex weakly flexed downward (Figs. 1A, C); (2) protibial spur absent (Figs. 1A, C); (3) metafemurs with posteromedial triangular process (Figs. 1A, C, D), never on posterodorsal edge as O. azteca (Fig. 3A) and O. cambeforti; (4) parameres (in lateral view) with rounded apices (Fig. 2A); (5) frontolateral peripheral endophallite triangular shaped (Fig. 2B).   
 Description. Male (Fig. 1A): length: 11.2–12.2 mm, width 5.7–6.0 mm. Female (Fig. 1B): length 10.5–13.2 mm, width: 5.0–6.0 mm. Colour. Body dark reddish brown, pubescence fulvous, length 10.5–13.2 mm. Head (Fig. 1A, C). Anterior edge arcuate, weakly upturned, slightly emarginate medially, clypeogenal junction straight. Clypeus transversely wrinkled on anterior half, either with confluent and feeble punctures on posterior half. Clypeofrontal suture arcuate, feebly carinate, with small and rounded conical process medially. Genal surface with punctures confluent throughout. Vertex finely and shallowly punctate on anterior two-thirds, posterior third smooth. Pronotum (Fig.1A). Transverse wider than long W/L = 2.0; anterior edge narrowly membranous and almost straight behind head insertion. Disc slightly declivous on anterior fifth behind head insertion, and almost convex in lateral view; punctures rounded, moderate in size on disc and lateral swellings, slightly larger and denser along anterior and lateral declivities, not confluent on anterior angles. Elytra (Fig. 1A). Subquadrate, L/W = 1.2. Striae moderately wide and impressed on disc and apical declivity, punctures rounded, deeper than stria, approximately 1.2 times as wide as stria and separated by 1–2 diameters on disc and apical declivity, slightly encroaching on intervals. Interstriae slightly convex, surface feebly punctate, with a trace of alutaceous microsculpture. Thoracic sterna (Fig. 1C). Proepisternum with posterolateral portion densely pubescent and finely alutaceous throughout. Prosternum behind procoxa finely pubescent, setae apposed, with a brush of longer setae medially on posterior edge. Mesosternum (Figs. 1C, 2C) with feeble and alutaceous microsculpture, surface slightly and transversely impressed on disc, with rounded punctures moderate in size, coarse and dense throughout, pubescence fine and short throughout. Mesepisternum regularly punctate, punctures of different sizes, rounded and umbilicate, surface finely alutaceous, strongly and sharply carinate parallel to posterior edge. Metasternal disc with fine and rounded punctures, surface widely and somewhat deeply sulcate; lateral lobes on anterior half with punctures rounded and umbilicate, posterior half with punctures rounded, surface weakly alutaceous on anterior half, pubescence long and obliquely oriented; median lobe of mesosternon proportion (length/medial width) = 1.6, lateral margins almost parallel on anterior half, slightly convergent on posterior half, lateral margins narrow throughout and anterior angles of lateral margins rounded internally; surface finely punctate, anterior-most punctures slightly larger and finely setiferous; surface between punctures finely alutaceous anteriorly; junction with mesosternum angulate medially, finely carinate throughout, not produced into short carina longitudinally on mesosternum. Legs (Fig. 1A–C). Protibia quadridentate, apical tooth projecting anteriorly and with the apex weakly flexed down, unmodified in females; ventromedial carina lacking intervening setae on basal third in both sexes; apical spur absents in males, in females recurved and weakly bent down apically; metafemurs (Figs. 1A, C) with triangular projection on posterodorsal and distal edge, posteroventral surface sulcate, sulcus extending anteriorly at the apex and apicoventral surface with shallow deep impression in males, absent in females. Metatibiae (Fig. 1A, C–D) with internal edge slightly lobate on basal half in males, simple in females. Abdomen (Fig. 1C). Sternites 2–5 punctate laterally, anterior edge with a row of setiferous punctures laterally, the suture between sternites 5–6 deeply and sharply sulcate laterally. Pygidium (Fig. 1C–D). width/length = 2.0 in males or 2.1 in females, punctures small, evenly distributed, surface glossy; apical margin clearly delimited in males, basal portion slightly sulcate along margin medially. Male genitalia (Fig. 2A). Phallobase approximately 2.0 times as long as parameres, which is convex apically. Parameres in lateral view elongate and with apex rounded, ventral portion slightly concave, deeply notched basally, and posteroventral portion long. Endophallus. Fronto-lateral peripheral endophallite, axial endophallite, and subaxial endophallite as in Fig. 2B (see arrows).   
 Sexual dimorphism. Females (Fig. 1B) can be distinguished from males by the following characteristics: 1) length less than 11 mm; 2) apical tooth not forwardly directed; 3) protibial spur present; and 4). metafemur without triangular process.   
 Remarks. Ontherus araujoi is distributed in Ecuador (with the type locality 50 km north of the border with Peru). It inhabits dry montane forest, in the southern Ecuadorian Andes (Sierra, 1999) over 1000 m (Fig. 4). According to the biogeographic regionalization proposed by Morrone (2014), this new species occurs in the “Western Ecuador Province”.   
 Females similar to the O. appendiculatus species group (see Génier, 1996), but differ in the vertex punctate on all area of the head (with punctures transverse along the posterior surface). However, the shape of the parameres looks similar to the species included in the O. alexis species group of the subgenus Caelontherus. We will keep this question open for now and resolve the issue when additional specimens are studied.
description: Published as part of Chamorro, William, Lopera-Toro, Alejandro & Génier, François, 2024, A new species of Ontherus Erichson, 1847 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Coprini) and new distributional records of Cryptocanthon humidus Howden, 1973 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Deltochilini) for Ecuador, pp. 56-66 in Zootaxa 5471 (1) on pages 57-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5471.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/12189573