Rhytomus elongatus Génier & Gunter & Saxton 2025, new combination
Creators: name: Génier, François
name: Gunter, Nicole L.
name: Saxton, Natalie A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Rhytomus
Rhytomus elongatus

description: Rhytomus elongatus (van Lansberge, 1885), new combination
Figs 6, 9A
Tesserodon elongatum van Lansberge, 1885: 376 (original description)— Paulian 1934: 287 (identification key, distribution); Paulian 1985: 221 (identification key, distribution)
Tesserodon elongatus — Gillet 1911: 40 (catalogue); Gunter et al. 2019: 453 (distribution)
Name-bearing type data. Lectotype ♂ (MSNG) by present designation: || Nuova Guinea | Fly River | L.M.D Albertis 1876-77 ||; || TYPUS || [bordered and printed in red]; || Tesserodon | elongatum | Lansberge Type || [handwritten]; || elongatum | Lansb. || [handwritten with a border]; || SYNTYPUS | Tesserodon | elongatum | Lansberge, 1885 || [partly handwritten]; || WORLD SCARAB. | DATABASE | WSD00028173 || [QR code label]; || LECTOTYPE ♂ | Tesserodon | elongatum | van Lansberge, 1885 | des. Génier & Larsen, 2015 || [red card]. Studied.
Material examined (1♂, 1♀). PAPUA NEW GUINEA: WESTERN PROVINCE, Fly River, [08°00’ S, 142°00’E], 1876–1877, L.M. D’Albertis — ♂ lectotype, 1 ♀ paralectotype (MHNG).
Redescription. Measurements. Body length 6.0 mm, maximum body width 2.9 mm. Body. Overall body shape in dorsal view elongate-oval, elytral edge slightly subangular at apical third. Head. Clypeal edge lateral to clypeal teeth lacking emargination (Fig. 6B), head margin at clypeogenal suture of females slightly protruding. Dorsal parts of eyes semi-ovoid, separated by an interocular space of about 5.3 times eye width. Pronotum. Pronotal width to length along midline ratio 1.7, lateral pronotal edge sharply defined throughout, pronotal pubescence long and conspicuous, pronotal basal portion along midline lacking fine longitudinal depression. Elytra. Elytral maximum width to length along suture ratio 1.1, elytral outline moderately convex in lateral view, elytral pubescence long and conspicuous, elytral surface between punctures appearing glossy, at most with ill-defined microsculptures (Fig. 6A), basal elytral pit wide and deep, basal surface of pseudepipleuron with sharply defined simple punctures, interstriae 3–5 on basal fifth with two rows of punctures along striae, with at most a few scattered punctures. Legs. Profemoral anterior surface deeply furrowed, male metatibial apicointernal tooth set anteriorly to posterior tibial edge (e.g. Fig. 12D). Pygidium. Pygidial surface along midline with punctures similar in density to rest of discs, pygidial surface along basal groove smooth between punctures, pygidium of female evenly convex. Aedeagus. Left paramere apex produced into a rounded oblique projection (Fig. 9A).
Remarks. This species was described based on two syntypes. In 2015, Génier and Larsen labeled one male from this series as the lectotype.
description: Published as part of Génier, François, Gunter, Nicole L. & Saxton, Natalie A., 2025, Rhytomus Génier & Saxton: A new dung beetle genus from New Guinea with five new species and phylogenetic insights (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), pp. 87-110 in Zootaxa 5575 (1) on pages 95-96, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5575.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/14746442