Orphnus (Phornus) Paulian 1948
- Dataset
- Revision of the subgenus Orphnus (Phornus) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Orphninae)
- Rank
- SUBGENUS
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Arthropoda
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Coleoptera
- family
- Orphnidae
- genus
- Orphnus
diagnosis
Diagnosis Medium sized beetles (body length 10.0 – 14.5 mm). Colour uniformly brown to black. Dorsal surface of body more or less densely punctate, punctation of head and pronotum denser than of elytra. Elytra with flat to slightly convex intervals, first five to seven elytral striae more or less marked as slightly depressed lines. Head armature of males as short tubercle or transverse frontoclypeal carina. Pronotal disc of males slightly flattened anteromedially in some species. Stridulatory field in males with sparse coarse carinae, separated by 1 / 40 to 1 ⁄ 30 length of stridulatory field in central ¼ rd (Figs 1 K, 2 I). Sides of abdominal sternite 2 with more or less developed accessory plate (Figs 1 G, 2 H). Parameres with rounded apices in dorsal view, without lateral teeth. Endophallus without sclerotized armature.
discussion
Composition In the present work we treat the subgenus as comprising six species: two originally described by Paulian (1948) and four new species. Petrovitz (1971) described two further species in the subgenus Phornus, O. planicollis and O. compactus, although he noted that they had no similarity to O. giganteus and O. strangulatus. These species have genital and stridulatory structures more similar to those of O. bicolor (Fabricius, 1801), the type species of Orphnus (sensu stricto), and therefore we transfer them to the nominotypical subgenus. Orphnus giganteus differs from other members of the subgenus in a number of characters (see description below) and its taxonomic position needs further clarification. Until additional comparative data are available, we follow Paulian (1948) and treat this species as a member of subgenus Phornus.
distribution
Distribution Members of the subgenus Phornus are distributed in Equatorial Africa and the majority of species apparently have allopatric ranges. Most of the known localities are south of the Congo Depression, notably on the Lunda and Katanga plateaus and the Eastern Arc Mountains (Fig. 6).
type_taxon
Type species Orphnus strangulatus Paulian, 1948 (original designation).
Name
- Homonyms
- Orphnus (Phornus) Paulian 1948