Macroderes leipoldti Abdalla & Deschodt & Scholtz & Sole 2018, new species
Creators: name: Abdalla, Ishtiag H.
name: Deschodt, Christian M.
name: Scholtz, Clarke H.
name: Sole, Catherine L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Macroderes
Macroderes leipoldti

description: Macroderes leipoldti Abdalla & Deschodt, new species
(Figs. 23, 33, 81, 85, 95)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: E7684ED7-73AB-4E57-9A9F-70346B9E45BF
Type locality. Farm: Kelkiewyn, 31.21500°S 19.67958°E. Type material. Holotype, ♂ (UPSA). “Farm: Kelkiewyn / S31.21500° E19.67958° / 781 m / 21.08.2008 –
13.09.2008 / Pig [dung] baited glycol traps. C. Deschodt [printed] // HOLOTYPE / Macroderes leipoldti / Abdalla & Deschodt / 2018 [red label, printed]”. Paratypes: 3 ♀♀ (TMSA), same data as holotype.
Holotype description. Holotype, ♂ (Fig. 23). Body length 8.4 mm, width 6.1 mm.
Head. Clypeal surface smooth between punctures, sometimes becoming shagreened close to punctures. Punctures shallow. Frontal suture very pronounced, slightly angled, almost tuberculate in middle.
Pronotum. Convex, lateral margins round. Slight indentation laterally. Lateral border not punctate. Dorsal surface punctate with punctures less than one puncture diameter apart (Fig. 81). Area between punctures smooth. Dorsal part of eyes clearly visible.
Elytra. Elytral interstriae 1–8 slightly raised, surface shagreened with irregularly spaced shallow punctures, margins of punctures not carinate (Fig. 95). Striae punctate with punctures separated by 3–4 puncture diameters. Sutural interstria narrow with single row of punctures close together, all other elytral interstriae wider. Stria 9 long, 3/4 the length of elytron, interstria 10 2–3 times narrower than interstria 9 in the middle of elytron.
Aedeagus. Sclerite of internal sac short and slightly curved before the apex, with rather broad basal part and without lateral process (Fig. 33).
Size range. Females length: 8.0– 8.4 mm, width: 5.7–6.1 mm.
Female. Female differs from male by the combination of the following characters: in the female the pronotum is less convex and appears broader anteriolaterally than in the male, and in the female the frontoclypeal suture is less developed than in the male with weakly developed tubercle in the middle.
Etymology. This species is named in honour of Dr. Christian F.L. Leipoldt, leading South African author, poet and an amateur botanist with a deep love of the Hantam.
Differential diagnosis. This species is easily separated from others in the group by the puncture associated seta being outside and close to the edge of the punctures. It is also very short and stubby. The pronotal punctures on the base are almost round and between 1.5 and 3 puncture diameters apart (Fig. 81).
Habitat and distribution. This species occurs on the Hantam Plateau Dolerite Renosterveld (Fig. 2) as defined by Mucina & Rutherford (2006). However, the area where the species was collected should be defined as Hantam Karoo with loamy to sandy soils and a maximum of 175 mm of rain per year (Scholtz, personal observation).
description: Published as part of Abdalla, Ishtiag H., Deschodt, Christian M., Scholtz, Clarke H. & Sole, Catherine L., 2018, An update to the taxonomy of the genus Macroderes Westwood 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) with descriptions of new species from South Africa, pp. 41-75 in Zootaxa 4504 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4504.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/2606164