Onitis castaneus Kollar 1844
Creators: name: Karimbumkara, Seena Narayanan
name: Priyadarsanan, Dharma Rajan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Onitis
Onitis castaneus

description: Onitis castaneus Kollar, 1844
Figs 5C, 11A–D, 17
Onitiscastaneus Kollar, 1844: 517 (original description).
Onitis castaneus – Lansberge 1875: 144 (revision). — Arrow 1931: 398 (keys, description). — Balthasar 1935: 92 (monograph); 1963: 46 (monograph). — Janssens 1937: 74 (revision). — Chandra 2000: 360 (distribution). — Mittal 2005: 46 (list). — Bezděk & Krell 2006: 159 (describing author, year correction). — Chandra & Ahirwar 2007: 287 (distribution). — Sewak 2009b: 61 (distribution, diagnosis). — Singh et al. 2010: 1394 (distribution). — Gupta et al. 2015: 1037 (checklist). — Bezděk 2016: 179 (describing author, year correction, distribution). — Ghosh et al. 2020: 238 (distribution). — Schoolmeesters 2022 (online catalogue).
Differential diagnosis
Onitiscastaneus is similar to O. brahma and O. crassus in having a hairy pygidium and it differs from them in having tubercle on the clypeo-frontal carina while the tubercle is placed behind the clypeo-frontal carina in both the latter species. It differs from O. brahma in the frontal carina being entire; the clypeal margin being straight while the carina is interrupted and the clypeal margin is slightly excised in O. brahma. Onitiscastaneus differs from O. crassus in having longer hairs on the pygidium while the latter has short setae.
Material examined
Syntype (3 specimens)
INDIA • ♂, 2 ♀♀; “Kaschmir, Hügel”; NHMW.
Additional material (17 specimens)
INDIA • ♂; “ Kheri Forest, U.P. India., Jan’ 16 HGC; H.G. Champion Coll., B.M. 1953-156.; Onitis castaneus, Redt. G. J. Arrow det.”; BMNH (E) 1237151 • ♀; “ Gazighat, Multan Div. Punjab, 15. 2. 28., C.F.C. Beeson; ex coll. Dehradun, B.M. 1928-472., ex Cattle dung;” BMNH (E) 1237152 • ♀; “ Pilani, Rajasthan; 1957; Coll: H.L. Khandu, Det: T. G. Vazirani ”; ZSIM • 10 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; Assam, Tezpur, under Kolia bhomora bridge; hand-picked, cattle dung; 19 Dec. 2018; Rajkamal Goswami leg.; AIMB / Co/ Sc1000023 to 1000036.
Description
MEASUREMENTS (in mm). TL=16–19; BW=9.5–12; PL=6.5–7.5; PW=9–11; EL= 8.5–10; HL=4. 5–5.5; HW =5–6.
Male
Dark chestnut brown; head with strongly elevated frontal carina acuminate in the middle; clypeal margin strongly reflexed, straight in the middle, with long transverse arcuate carina, frontal carina straight, rugulose in front, with tubercle behind; vertex strongly excavated; pronotum unevenly punctured, strongly rugulose anteriorly, tuberculate between the basal foveae; front angles rather blunt, deep basal foveae closely placed; elytra opaque, finely striate, intervals flat, feebly punctured; pygidium sparsely hairy; metasternum closely tuberculate, hairy with a longitudinal median groove; front legs long, slender, strongly curved, armed with four short teeth externally, profemur with a strong oblique spine near the middle of anterior edge, middle tibia with two strong processes at its outer edge.
AEDEAGUS (in mm) (Fig. 11A–D). LP=3.03, Lp =2.78; BP=1.32, BpB=1.07, BpT=0.43. Parameres shorter than phallobase, dorsal side of parameres straight at the base, tip broader and curved and tip blunt.
Female
Protibia short, broad bearing four strong external teeth; clypeus more rounded in the middle than male; frontal tubercle more prominent.
Distribution
India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal. Other countries: Nepal; Pakistan (Chandra 2000; Mittal 2005; Bezděk & Krell 2006; Chandra & Ahirwar 2007; Sewak 2009b; Singh et al. 2010; Gupta et al. 2015; Bezděk 2016; Ghosh et al. 2020; Schoolmeesters 2022).
description: Published as part of Karimbumkara, Seena Narayanan & Priyadarsanan, Dharma Rajan, 2024, Study on the genus Onitis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) of the Indian Subcontinent, with three new species from India, pp. 1-61 in European Journal of Taxonomy 956 on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.956.2657, http://zenodo.org/record/13742850