A new high-altitude species of Xeloma Kraatz, 1881 from South Africa (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae, Cetoniini)

Abstract

A new species of Xeloma Kraatz, 1881, closely related to both X. atra (Thunberg, 1818) and X. maura (Boheman, 1860), is identified and described from the broader Drakensberg range and the interior highlands of South Africa, at altitudes between 1300 and 2000 m. The species has previously been lumped with either of the two related species, but it clearly exhibits a rather distinct habitus and aedeagal parameres. In particular, its general dorsum is covered in dense creamy-white tomentum, rather than yellow or ochreous like in the sister species, and the dorsal lobes of its aedeagus are longer and narrower and do not exhibit the typical latero-apical expansions that characterize the other two species. Like X. atra and X. maura, the new species appears to be linked to mammal herbivore dung for its larval development, mainly rock hyrax, Cape hare and klipspringer, while no adult has been observed yet feeding on any substratum.