Heterogomphus kogui Neita Moreno, Clavijo-Bustos, & Ratcliffe 2025, new species
Creators: name: Neita Moreno, Jhon C.
name: Clavijo-Bustos, Julián
name: Ratcliffe, Brett C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Heterogomphus
Heterogomphus kogui

description: Heterogomphus kogui Neita Moreno, Clavijo-Bustos, & Ratcliffe, new species
Figures 6A–C; 7B, D, F, H; 8 E–H, K–L; 11C–D.
Type Material. Holotype. Male deposited in IAvH-E: “ Colombia, Magdalena, Santa | Marta, Corrg. Minca, Vda. El Ramo | Bosque intervenido, Bosque | Montano 11°06´19.4´´ N; 74°03´24.4´´ | W. WGS84. 2561 m, Trampa de Luz | Negra, Manual, 2.vi.2019. Jhon | César Neita-Moreno ” [white printed label] // “Holotypus ♂ | Heterogomphus kogui n. sp. | Neita-Moreno, Clavijo-Bustos & Ratcliffe, | 2024” [red printed label] // “Instituto Humboldt | Colombia | IAvH-E-240550 ” [white printed label with QR code]. Allotype. Female deposited in UNSM:“ Colombia, Magdalena, Santa | Marta, Corrg. Minca, Vda. El Ramo | Bosque intervenido, Bosque | Montano 11°06´19.4´´ N; 74°03´24.4´´ | W. WGS84. 2561 m, Trampa de Luz | Negra, Manual, 2.vi.2019. Jhon | César Neita-Moreno ” [white printed label] // “Allotypus ♀ | Heterogomphus kogui n. sp. | Neita-Moreno, Clavijo-Bustos & Ratcliffe, | 2024”. Paratypes. Female and male deposited in IAvH-E: “ Colombia | Santa Marta | 25 April 1976 // Colombia | Magdalena | R.C. Kugler // Heterogomphus carayoni | Dechambre, 1986 | Det. J. C. Neita, 2006” // “Paratypus ♂ | Heterogomphus kogui n. sp. | Neita-Moreno, Clavijo-Bustos & Ratcliffe, | 2024” [yellow printed label] // “Instituto Humboldt | Colombia | “ IAvH-E-88638 ” [white printed label with QR code]; “ Colombia, Magdalena, Santa | Marta, Corrg. Minca, Vda. El Ramo | Bosque intervenido, Bosque | Montano 11°06´19.4´´ N; 74°03´24.4´´ | W. WGS84. 2561 m, Trampa de Luz | Negra, Manual, 2.vi.2019. Jhon | César Neita-Moreno ” [white printed label] // “ Allotypus ♀ | Heterogomphus kogui n. sp. | Neita-Moreno, Clavijo-Bustos & Ratcliffe, | 2024” [red printed label] // “Instituto Humboldt | Colombia | IAvH-E-240549 ” [white printed label with QR code]. ’
Holotype (Fig. 6A, C). Length 39.1 mm; width 18.6 mm. Color black. Head: Dorsal surface with long, slender, recurved horn; horn reaching apex of pronotal prominence, apex strongly bifurcate; posterior margin of horn simple, lacking subapical tubercle. Occiput between posterior margin of eyes smooth, shiny. Frons at posterior base of horn punctate to weakly rugose and with long, dense, reddish-brown setae. Clypeus nearly smooth, apex truncate. Interocular width equals to three times the dorsal eye diameter. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club subequal in length to antennomeres 2–7. Mandibles large, bidentate, inner tooth smaller than outer tooth; labium rectangular, smooth in the middle and with a few setae on the lateral margins; galea with one tooth. Pronotum: Surface with an obliquely horizontal knob, anterior surface of prominence sharply declivous, concave, setigerous; apex of protuberance broadly truncate, weakly truncate at center. Surface on dorsum of protuberance with small, dense punctures; anterior half and sides of pronotum coarsely rugopunctate, setigerous; setae long, dense, reddish brown. Base with marginal bead. Elytra: Surface densely, coarsely rugopunctate, punctures large, most setigerous; setae reddish brown, long on sutural and second discal striae, and short on intervals. Sides with long, reddish-brown setae on first stria and along lateral margins. Venter: Color completely dark reddish brown. Prosternum: Disc with two anterior, longitudinal sulci, apex without a process. Mesoventrite: Disc flat in the middle; surface rugopunctate, each puncture bearing a slightly longer, slender, tawny seta. Metaventrite: Disc flat and densely setose on the lateral area; surface on lateral area densely punctate with moderately large, rounded punctures irregularly distributed, separated by less than one puncture diameter; medial area smooth. Metaventral process absent. Legs: Protibia along lateral margin with four teeth on apical third, the first and second teeth set close, and third and fourth teeth also set close; apical spur present; protarsomere 1 subequal in length to protarsomeres 2–4, protarsomere 5 as long as protarsomeres 3–4 combined, with a few setae at the apex. Mesotibial apex truncate (Fig. 8E) and with four stout, short teeth; mesotarsomere 1 subequal in length to mesotarsomeres 2–4, mesotarsomere 5 as long as mesotarsomeres 3–4 combined, with a few spinules at apex. Metatibial apex truncate (Fig. 8F) and with six stout, short spinules; similar in length to metatarsomeres. Abdomen: Abdominal ventrites 2–5 punctate, punctures dense on lateral areas, sparser and smaller on the middle, each puncture bearing a short, slender, tawny seta. Ventrite 6 longer than the others, rugopunctate on sides, punctures smaller and sparser on the middle. Pygidium: Surface entirely, minutely rugulose and with transverse fringe of long, reddish-brown setae just before base on apical convexity. In lateral view, surface strongly convex on basal fourth. Parameres: In lateral view, apex narrow and curving downward (Fig. 8K–L), half the length of phallobase. Parameres in caudal view slender and apically convergent.
Allotype. Female (Fig. 6B). As male except in the following respects. Length 42.2 mm; width across humeri 20.2 mm. Head: Frons with single, broad tubercle. Surface of frons and clypeus rugopunctate. Interocular width equals to 2.2 times the dorsal eye diameter. Pronotum: Surface with low, rounded tubercle at midline well behind anterior margin; anterior third and sides with moderately dense, short, reddish-brown setae. Legs: Mesotibial apex truncate and with 4–6 stout, short teeth (Fig. 8G). Metatibial apex truncate and with 5–6 stout, short teeth (Fig. 8H). Pygidium: In lateral view, surface weakly concave on apical half behind transverse fringe of long, reddish-brown setae.
Variation. Male (1 paratype). Similar to holotype but slightly larger. Length 42.3 mm, width 20.9 mm.
Diagnosis. The male of Heterogomphus kogui is distinguished from other species of the genus by: head with a long, slender, recurved horn with apex strongly bifurcate; posterior margin of horn simple, lacking subapical tubercle (Fig. 6A); clypeus nearly smooth and with the apex truncate (Fig. 7B, D); pronotum with the dorsal surface of protuberance with small, dense punctures (Fig. 7F); mesotibial apex truncate and with four stout, short teeth (Fig. 8E) and metatibial apex truncate and with six stout, short teeth (Fig. 8F). The parameres are unique (Fig. 8K–L), having the ventral edge sinuous and curved downwards (in lateral view) (Fig. 8L). The female is similar to the male, but the mesotibia has 4–6 stout, short teeth at the apex (Fig. 8G); and the metatibia has 5–6 stout, short spinules at the apex (Fig. 8H).
Etymology. This species is named in honor of the Kogui indigenous people that inhabit the type locality and are considered guardians of important Neotropical biodiversity at the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The specific epithet should be treated as a noun in apposition.
Distribution. Heterogomphus kogui is known only from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in Magdalena Department, Colombia, at elevations around 2561 m (Fig. 11C–D).
Natural history. Adults are nocturnal and attracted to lights.
Taxonomic remarks. Heterogomphus kogui is nearly identical to H. carayoni in dorsal color and sculpturing but is differentiated by the following combination of characters: the male and female clypeal apex of H. kogui is truncate (Fig. 7B, D) versus a broad and deeply triangularly emarginate clypeal apex in both sexes of H. carayoni (Fig. 7A, C). The pronotal punctures are dense and small in the male of H. kogui (Fig. 7F) but larger in the male of H. carayoni (Fig. 7E). In the male, the mesotibia of H. kogui has four stout, short teeth at the apex (Fig. 8E), while H. carayoni has two stout, short teeth (Fig. 8A). The metatibia of H. kogui is narrow at the apex and with six stout, short teeth (Fig. 8F), and H. carayoni has three stout, short teeth (Fig. 8B). For the female, the mesotibial apex is truncate with 4–6 stout, short teeth (Fig. 8G) and the metatibia is truncate with 5–6 stout, short teeth (Fig. 8H) for H. kogui. In H. carayoni the mesotibial apex has one large tooth (Fig. 8C) and the metatibial apex is truncate with 1 short tooth (Fig. 8D). The parameres of H. kogui are unique (Fig. 8K, L). Although similar in shape to those of H. carayoni (Fig. 8I–J), the ventral edge is more sinuous and downward curved (lateral view) (Fig. 8L versus Fig. 8J).
There are three species of Heterogomphus in which the male has the cephalic horn bifurcate at the apex: Heterogomphus bicuspis Endrödi, 1976, distributed in Argentina and Bolivia (Endrödi 1976; Ratcliffe et al. 2023); H. carayoni, distributed in the western foothills of the Andes from Colombia and Ecuador (Fig. 9A); and H. kogui, endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Fig. 9C).
description: Published as part of Neita Moreno, Jhon C., Clavijo-Bustos, Julián & Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2025, A review of the genus Heterogomphus Burmeister, 1847 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Oryctini) from Colombia, pp. 345-364 in Zootaxa 5590 (3) on pages 353-357, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5590.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/14953221