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DELBERT A. LA RUE
Research Associate, Entomology Research Museum
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521, U.S.A.
Abstract
Pleocoma hovorei La Rue, new species, is described and illustrated from Shasta and
Tehama Counties, California, U.S.A. Included are remarks on taxonomy, adult behavior,
and ecology. Based upon congruent morphological characters the new taxon is associated
with the P. staff species group.
Heretofore, the P. staff species group of the genus Pleocoma LeConte was
considered monotypic, being comprised solely of the nominate species distributed
in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains: Butte, Nevada, and Yuba Counties,
California (Fig. 5). Recent collections and field surveys, guided in part by prior
literature (Linsley 1945:113–114; Hovore 1977:231, 1981:2) have revealed an
undescribed species from Shasta and Tehama Counties, California, whose salient
morphological characters are synapotypically congruent with the P. staff species
group.
Specimens examined are deposited in the private collections of the respective
collectors except where indicated by the following codens: CRSC - C.R. Smith,
Anderson, CA; DALC - D.A. La Rue, Willcox, AZ; FTHC - F.T. Hovore, to be
deposited at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA; LRBC -
L.R. Bronson, Summit City, CA.
Figs. 1–4. Dorsal habitus photos of Pleocoma hovorei, new species, and P. staff. 1)
holotype male, P. hovorei; 2) allotype female, P. hovorei; 3) male, P. staff; 4) female, P. staff.
Rogers (1 male, FTHC); Route 44 & Dersch Rd., 01.XII.2003, F.T. Hovore, R.L.
Penrose (1 male, FTHC); Redding, Mountain Gate at Old Oregon Trail & I-5,
29.IX.1988, D.C. Rogers (1 male, FTHC); Keswick Dam Rd. & A-18,
22.XII.1991, D.C. Rogers (1 male, FTHC); Lake Blvd. & Walker Mine Rd.,
24.II.1991, D.C. Rogers (2 males, FTHC); Williamson Rd. & Walker Mine Rd.,
29.XI.1999, D.A. La Rue (2 males); Larkspur Lane & E. Cypress Ave.,
15.XII.2003, M.K. Fowler (1 male, DALC); Shasta City, 09.XI.-13.XII.2002,
L.R. Bronson (7 males); 16.XII.2002, F.T Hovore, R.L. Penrose (1 male, FTHC);
09.XI.-15.XI.2003, L.R. Bronson (15 males); Summit City, 11.XII.-12.XII.1994,
L.R. Bronson (9 males); 6.XII.-15.XII.1995, L.R. Bronson (12 males, CRSC 1);
19.XI-10.XII.1996, L.R. Bronson (8 males, DALC 5); 27-29.XI.1999, D.A. La
Rue (3 males).
California, Tehama County, Lyman Springs, near Lyonsville, 12.X.2000, D.A.
La Rue (3 males); 08-11.XI.2002, J. Dalton (6 males, FTHC); 24.XI.2002, I.P.
Swift (1 female, FTHC); 07.XI.2003, F.T. Hovore, I.P. Swift (5 males, FTHC);
Jct. Plum Creek Rd. & Ponderosa Rd., 12.X.2000, D.A. La Rue (3 males); Little
Giant Mill Rd., 1 mi. NW of Lyonsville, 31.X.2001, C.R. Smith (1 male); 0.5 mi.
S. Jct. Plum Creek Rd. & Ponderosa Rd., 09.XI.2004, I.P. Swift (1 male, FTHC);
Fig. 5. Distribution map (modified from Hovore 1977:238). P. hovorei, new species,
circles; P. staff, squares.
2 mi. S. Jct. Plum Creek Rd. & Hogsback Rd., 09.XI.2004, I.P. Swift (1 male,
FTHC); Ponderosa Sky Ranch, 12.X.2000, D.A. La Rue (14 males); 31.X.2001,
C.R. Smith (2 males); 16.XI.2001, C.R. Smith (9 males).
Paratypes are deposited at the California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco,
CA), the Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside;
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History (Washington,
DC); and the private collections of L.R. Bronson (Summit City, CA); R.A.
Cunningham (Chino, CA); F.T. Hovore (to be deposited at the California
Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA); H.F. Howden (deposited at the
Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada); R.E. Jensen (Canoga
Park, CA); S. McCleve (Douglas, AZ); R.H. McPeak (Battle Ground, WA); C.R.
Smith (Anderson, CA); B.D. Streit (Tucson, AZ); G.C. Walters (La Puente, CA);
W.B. Warner (Chandler, AZ); and the author.
Description. Holotype. Male (Fig. 1). Length. 27.5 mm. Greatest width.
17.5 mm. (15.0 mm. at elytral humeri). Form. Stout, robust, oval, moderately
convex dorsally. Color. Dorsal integument uniformly shining concolorous black;
posteromedial pronotal disk indistinctly clouded with cupreous red to reddish-
brown when viewed under magnification (.253); head with frons, vertex,
anteocular margin, eyes, reflexed anterior surface of vertical horn, black; tibia
dark reddish-brown to black; dorsal surface of ocular canthi, medial scutellar
disk, antennae and other appendages of head, remainder of legs and venter,
reddish-brown; lamellae of antennal club light brown with a golden pruinose
sheen; pubescence bright golden reddish-brown. Head. Convex, narrow, entirely,
densely, coarsely to rugosely punctate, obscuring frontoclypeal suture, with long,
The various Redding sites are located within residential or commercial areas
surrounded by remnants of oak (Quercus sp.) and pine woodland and introduced
ornamental vegetation.
Shasta City and Summit City localities are within or adjacent to residential
communities in pine, oak, and manzanita scrub growing in heavy, red, clay soils
intermixed with pale sandstone. Specimens were taken at lights of private
dwellings and community businesses.
The Palo Cedro site is in an area of valley oak and gray pine with an understory
of riparian and upland scrub growing on heavy, clay silts adjacent to a seasonal
creek. Male specimens were taken primarily within open fields beneath a scattered
oak-pine canopy, while females were encountered within a residential backyard
lawn area far removed from the oak-pine influence.
A male collected at Dersch Road was in undisturbed scrub oak with an
understory of mixed chaparral growing in light, loamy soil interspersed with areas
of reddish clay adjacent a residential area.
Lyman Springs and Lyonsville areas are a mix of incense cedar (Libocedrus sp.)
and black oak forest with an understory of buckbrush (Ceonothus sp.) in open
and disturbed areas growing on rocky, red, clay soil oriented on a north-facing
slope. South-facing slopes support an oak, incense cedar, and yellow pine
woodland with an understory of manzanita thickets or open rabbit brush
(Chrysothamnus sp.) growing on a dark, rocky, clayish loam. A female was found
within an area of incense cedar, while males were taken in open pine and oaks.
The small hamlet of Ponderosa Sky Ranch is a continuation of the Lyonsville
woodland community with similar soils. Males were taken at lights of private
dwellings and community businesses.
Adult Behavior. Males of P. hovorei fly most numerously at daybreak in light to
heavy rainfall with continued activity over subsequent mornings and dusk with or
without precipitation. Females were excavated at depths of 30–60 cm, often with
one to three males still within the plugged burrow above. The allotype female was
encountered on the soil surface with antennae extended in an exposed lawn area
in late morning following a night of precipitation.
Because of topography and elevation, the upper San Joaquin Valley receives
less precipitation in contrast to the higher environments of the southern Cascade
Range. Consequently, adult activity generally starts over a month earlier in the
Lyonsville area as compared to the type locality at Black Butte Road and Palo
Cedro localities. The atypically late appearance of the few specimens in February
may be attributable to winters with a prevailing El Niño climatic regime indicated
by aberrant precipitation patterns and delay of suitable conditions that are part of
an assemblage of stimuli influencing adult emergence and activity. These late
appearances are indicative of phenotypic plasticity (Schlichting and Smith
2002:190).
Remarks. Pleocoma hovorei is the species reported by Linsley (1945:113–114)
from near Lyonsville, Tehama County, and Hovore (1977:231, 1981:2) from
Redding, Shasta County.
Etymology. It is a privilege to name this new species in honor of the late Frank
T. Hovore, eminent coleopterist and foremost authority of the genus Pleocoma,
and for the many years of friendship and encouragement he gave me.
Acknowledgments
The generous contributions and assistance of several individuals have greatly
enhanced this paper. The author extends his gratitude to L.R. Bronson (Summit
City, CA), M.K. Fowler (Redding, CA), and C.R. Smith (Anderson, CA) and
their families for hospitality, lodging, specimens, field assistance and data. The
late F.T. Hovore for discussions on Pleocoma taxonomy and bionomics, early
manuscript comments and unpubl. data cited herein. G.E. Ball (Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada), and B.D. Streit (Tucson, AZ), provided pertinent literature
resources. W.B. Warner (Chandler, AZ) for photographic expertise; S. McCleve
(Douglas, AZ), B.C. Ratcliffe (Lincoln, NE), and W.B. Warner (Chandler, AZ)
kindly reviewed the manuscript and offered constructive editorial suggestions
toward its improvement.
Literature Cited
Baum, D. A., and A. Larson. 1991. Adaptation reviewed: a phylogenetic methodology for
studying character macroevolution. Systematic Zoology 40:1–18.
Hovore, F. T. 1977. New synonymy and status changes in the genus Pleocoma LeConte.
Coleopterists’ Bulletin 31(3):229–238.
Hovore, F. T. 1981. Notes on Pleocoma LeConte. Part II. Scarabaeus: A newsletter for those
interested in Scarabaeidae (A. R. Hardy, D. C. Carlson, and W. D. Edmonds,
editors). November 1981. Issue #5. 6 pp.
Linsley, E. G. 1945. Further notes on some species of Pleocoma. Pan-Pacific Entomologist
21(3):110–114.
Linsley, E. G. 1946. A preliminary key to the species of Pleocoma. Pan-Pacific Entomologist
22:61–65.
Schlichting, C. D., and Smith, H. 2002. Phenotypic plasticity: linking molecular mechanisms
with evolutionary outcomes. Evolutionary Ecology 16:189–211.
(Received 6 March 2007; accepted 16 April 2007. Publication date xx July 2007.)