|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Род Frankenbergerius Balthasar, 1938 (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)© A.V. Frolov |
|
The genus Frankenbergerius was proposed by Balthasar for one species, F. mirabilis Balthasar, described in the same paper from 'Columbien, Chiriguana'. It was, however, inadequately described from apparently mislabeled material and one year later Paulian remarked that the description of F. mirabilis belongs to the African species Coptorhina armata. Since then the genus was considered a synonym of Coptorhina. The genus differs from Coptorhina in a number of characters apart from those indicated by Ferreira (see below) and generic rank of this group is well supported. Both genera share a numbers of apomorphies with Delopleurus Erichson and Sarophorus Erichson; Frankenbergerius is a putative sister group to the clade Coptorhina+Delopleurus. The genus includes 7 species and 2 subspecies of F. armatus: |
|
Males with less developed clypeal processes and females of some species of Frankenbergerius, especially F. barratti (Waterhouse) with smooth elytra, are similar to species of Coptorhina. The two genera can immediately be distinguished, however, by the shape of the metepisternon. That of Frankenbergerius is triangular, widest in its anterior part, with slightly convex epipleural margin, whiles Coptorhina's is somewhat rectangular, widest in its hind part, with secondary suture and very convex epipleural margin. Elytra of Frankenbergerius are not fused along sutural margins, as opposed to Coptorhina, and have complex sculpture in most species. The two genera differ strongly in secondary sexual characters. In Coptorhina, sexual dimorphism is very weak; males differ from females in having the last abdominal sternite slightly convex. In rankenbergerius, sexes can easily be separated by the shape of the spur of the anterior tibiae, which is simple, acute in females and bifurcated in males. Males of some species also differ from females in having curious horn-like clypeal processes. However the size of these horns, similar to other head processes in different groups of scarab beetles, is subject to much variation among individuals. References: Balthasar V. 1938. Neue Gattungen und Arten der sudamerikanischen Coprophagen. Entomologische Blatter 34(4):210-223. Ferreira M. 1954. Monografia dos Escarabaeideos da Africa do Sul, V parte, No 1, Generos Coptorhina Hope and Pseudocoptorhina nov. Boletim da Sociedade de Estudos de Mocambique 87:1-17. Paulian R. 1939. Contribution a lТetude des Canthonides Americains. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France 108:1-40. Frolov A.V., C.H. Scholtz. 2005. Revision of the southern African genus Frankenbergerius
Balthasar with description of new taxa (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). Journal of Natural History,
39(25): 2355-2377. |
