Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) similis Zidek and Pokorny 2018, sp. n.
Creators: name: Zidek, Jiri
name: Pokorný, Svatopluk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeus
Scarabaeus similis

description: Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) similis Zidek and Pokorný, sp. n.
Fig. 55–58
Type locality. N. Cape Prov., 8.5 km S Pienaarsriver, leg. C. Bellamy 4.VII.1999.
Type material. HTm— TMSA. No other specimens.
Etymology. Similar, resembling (Lat.).
Description of holotype. Length 14 mm; black, glossy.
Head. Clypeus with teeth upturned, spaces between them V-shaped with that between medials more open, tips of medials and right lateral broken off. Genae with anterior tips triangular but rounded, posterolateral margins setose, posterior corners obliquely curved toward eyes, posterior margin rimmed by a carina that medially branches to laterally/anterolaterally surround eye. Surface at bases of teeth and entire genae granulorugose, with a narrow glabrous medial strip from bases of teeth through frons and vertex. Antennal peduncle dark brown, club gray.
Pronotum. Strongly convex and transverse, bordered all around, with front angles obtuse, lateral margins crenulate and setose, and hind corners obliquely merging into base, which lacks medial lobe. Broad, glabrous sagittal line present from front margin to near base, reminder of surface unevenly coarsely punctate, size of punctures diminishes laterally and anteriorly; punctation nearly as sparse as in S. laevifrons (Fig. 84).
Scutellum. Not visible.
Elytra. With striae indistinctly, shallowly punctate, interspaces about equal puncture diameters. Second through fourth intervals medium convex and unevenly coarsely punctate, with interspaces equaling 2 to 5 puncture diameters; first and fifth through seventh intervals flat and mostly impunctate. Humeri barely indicated and confined to sixth interval.
Pygidium. Semilunar, bordered all around, finely and shallowly punctate.
Venter. Metasternum largely glabrous, finely punctate only lateral of anterior process and with short rusty setae on anterolateral margins; anterior process broadly lunate, with a rounded tip. Abdominal ventrites finely punctate along anterior margins, otherwise glabrous.
Legs. Protibia weakly bent inward between second and third teeth, devoid of setae, with lateral margin finely serrate and medial margin finely granulate throughout length; dorsomedial carina branches toward bases of second and third teeth; ventromedial carina simple and continuous throughout length. Profemur robust, proximally thickened by oblique expansion of anterior edge, anteroventral surface glabrous, posteroventral surface coarsely punctate. Mesotibia with one spur. Both meso- and metatibiae with two weak transverse carinae, meso- and metafemora antero- and posteroventrally with rows of setose punctures, setae short and gray.
Aedeagus. With paramere tips in dorsal view weakly inflated, in lateral view with a low ventral tooth and tapering into long, ventrally curved beaks.
Comparison. The habitus of this new species is reminiscent of S. megaparvulus Davis and Deschodt (Fig. 59–60) and S. funebris (Boheman) (Fig. 63), of which the latter has not hitherto been included in the subgenus. These two species resemble S. similis sp. n. chiefly due to their dorsal sculpture, but at the same time differ in several respects.
Scarabaeus megaparvulus has a well-developed transverse frontal carina; a more densely punctate pronotum without sagittal line and with a basal medial lobe; exposed scutellum; a narrow metasternal process whose triangular tip is delimited by a transverse groove; much thinner profemur; mesotibia with two spurs (only one noted in the original description); and paramere tips in lateral view truncate.
Scarabaeus funebris has the entire clypeus, genae and frons granulorugose; pronotum densely punctate, a narrow sagittal line reaching basal medial lobe, and a striola of finer setose punctures paralleling the basal margin; exposed scutellum; and elytral intervals much more coarsely punctate. The aedeagus of S. funebris (Fig. 102) is indistinguishable from that of S. similis sp. n. (Fig. 57–58), but it can hardly be claimed to indicate a close relationship because the same applies to the aedeagus of S. kochi Ferreira (Fig. 98), whose habitus (Fig. 79) is quite different.
The combination of a fully concealed scutellum and absence of the pronotal basal medial lobe is unusual. Apart from S. similis sp. n., we have found a concealed scutellum only in S. obsoletepunctatus Balthasar (Fig. 67), but that species does possess the basal medial lobe.
description: Published as part of Zidek, Jiri & Pokorný, Svatopluk, 2018, New species of the Scarabaeus subgenus Scarabaeolus Balthasar, with a review of the subgenus (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Scarabaeini), pp. 1-35 in Insecta Mundi 611 on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3726987