Onthophagus fragosus Genier & Howden 2014, new species
Creators: name: Génier, François
name: Howden, Henry F.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Onthophagus
Onthophagus fragosus

description: Onthophagus fragosus Génier & Howden, new species
Figs. 1–4
Holotype male (CMNC): CUBA: Cienfuegos, Rio Cabagan, 21.93123 -80.08461, 651m, 20.v.2013, R. Anderson, 2013- 026, gallery forest litter / HOLOTYPE, Onthophagus fragosus n.sp., des. Génier & Howden, 2014. Aedeagus and internal sac extracted.
Paratypes. 1 male, 2 females (CMNC). CUBA: Cienfuegos: P.N. Pico San Juan, road, 21.98495 -80.15188, 934m, 19.v.2013. R. Anderson, 2013-21, hardwood forest litter (1 female paratype); same data except: Rio Cabagan, 21.93123 - 80.08461, 651m, 20.v.2013, R. Anderson, 2013-026, gallery forest litter. (1 male and 1 female paratype).
Diagnosis. Readily separated from all other New World Onthophagus species by the following combination of characters: pronotal and pygidial surface covered with large and coarse umbilicate punctures; elytral striae each with a single row of coarse setiferous punctures, each puncture preceded by a small coarse tubercle.
Description. Holotype male (Fig. 1). Size. Length 5.5 mm, maximum width 3.0 mm. Color. Black, with legs, elytral apex, lateral portion of visible abdominal sternites and pygidium brown; surface finely microsculptured, appearing more or less sericeous. Head. Clypeal anterior edge bidentate, clypeal surface coarsely transversally rugose; clypeogenal junction slightly but distinctly emarginate; vertex with a short transverse carina occupying one-third width between eyes and with small tubercle adjacent to eye in line with carina; dorsal portion of eyes large, interocular ratio 2.7; antennal club yellowish, segments 1-6 slightly darker. Pronotum. Simply convex, lacking tubercle or carina; surface covered with large and coarse umbilicate punctures varying in size, largest punctures three time as large as smallest, each puncture with moderately long erect yellowish seta; surface between punctures more coarsely microsculptured than elytra.
Elytra. Interstriae uneven, interstriae 1-7 with single more or less regular row of coarse setiferous punctures, each puncture preceded by small coarse tubercle, interstriae 8 with 2 more or less regular rows of coarse setiferous punctures on basal half; striae moderately wide, with row of well-defined punctures, lateral edge of striae bordered by fine sharp carina interrupted at each puncture, punctures deeper on apical declivity. Legs. Protibia unmodified, rather robust, lacking apical setal brush, apical tooth obliquely oriented, less developed than penultimate; median and posterior legs unmodified. Thoracic sterna. Median lobe of metasternum with coarse setiferous punctures along mesocoxal edges; lateral lobes surface coarsely microsculptured, with coarse setiferous umbilicate punctures separated by approximately one diameter. Abdominal sternites. Segments 4-8 each with single row of large and very deep punctures basally; pygidium wider than long (ratio 1.4), surface covered with moderate to large setiferous umbilicate punctures separated by less than one diameter. Aedeagus. Parameres (Fig. 3) tapering to apex in lateral view, slightly divergent and simply rounded apically in frontal view; sclerites of internal sac as in Fig. 4.
Variation. Size. 5.0-7.0 mm. Females (Fig. 2) only slightly differ from males, in having more robust anterior tibiae and the carina of the vertex is slightly wider and more produced laterally, in addition to the ocular tubercle being slightly more developed. However, as usual they can easily be separated by the shape of abdominal segment 8, which is not reduced medially. The male paratype differs in having the elytral apex much lighter in color.
Etymology. Fragosus (broken, rough, uneven) a Latin adjective in apposition pertaining to the aspect of the tegument of this peculiar species.
Remarks. Based on their very small size compared to the females, the two known male specimens are most likely underdeveloped individuals. The large dorsal ocular surface suggests that the species is nocturnal. Because all specimens were collected by sifting leaf litter there is no indication of food preference. The only other native Onthophagus on Cuba, O. marginatus Castelnau, is widely distributed on the island. The new species has been collected from an isolated patch of Cuban moist forest at an elevation of 650- 935 m. This ecoregion (ecocode NT0120, see http://worldwildlife.org/ science/wildfinder/) is present in several areas of Cuba. The possibility that the new species could be found in other disjointed patches must be investigated. The presence of similar distinct umbilicate pygidial punctures combined with the presence of coarse granules on elytral intervals, a unique derived character for the New World Onthophagus, suggest that O. fragosus is most closely related to the other Cuban endemic O. marginatus; however, the two males of O. fragosus studied are lacking the distinctive protibial setal brush, but this might be the result of underdevelopment. Sclerites of the internal sac are very similar to those of O. marginatus. The parameres are of the same type but differ in being less projected ventrally in O. fragosus.
description: Published as part of Génier, François & Howden, Henry F., 2014, Onthophagus fragosus n. sp. a second endemic species of Onthophagus Latreille from Cuba (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), pp. 597-599 in Zootaxa 3795 (5) on pages 597-599, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3795.5.10, http://zenodo.org/record/4915107