Morettius utete, Roggero & Dierkens & Barbero & Palestrini, 2017

Roggero, Angela, Dierkens, Michael, Barbero, Enrico & Palestrini, Claudia, 2017, Combined phylogenetic analysis of two new Afrotropical genera of Onthophagini (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 180, pp. 298-320 : 315

publication ID	7A6A530-3EBA-4AF2-94E2-E9B8A1D07459
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7A6A530-3EBA-4AF2-94E2-E9B8A1D07459
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14807220
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DC6B6B-FFF0-FFD6-FC19-FF03FD16FA96
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Morettius utete
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

MORETTIUS UTETE View in CoL SP. NOV.

( FIGS 2, 11, 17)

Etymology: The species was named after the collection locality.

Type material: Holotype: Female , TANZANIA: Utete-Rufijikindwjivi [ MHNL] . Paratypes: 2 females, same locality [ MHNL] [ EBCT] .

Description

Male: Unknown.

Female: Length: 6.1 – 6.6 mm. Head bronze, transverse (length/width ratio: 0.72), with maximum width just anteriorly to the eyes. Clypeus sinuate, with clypeal edge reddish. Clypeo-genal junction not sinuate. Frontal carina fine, weakly curved, placed at the mid-length of the head, short and low, occupying half of the interocular space. Surface markedly reticulate. Clypeus covered by flat and transverse granules, more or less merged. Genal granules large and round. Vertex unarmed, weakly concave, with round and fine granules. Antennal scape normally shaped, not dentate or serrulate. Antennal club yellow.

Pronotum bronze, with hind angles bearing a bronze callus surrounded by a wide yellowish area Distribution: The genus Morettius is characterized by a disjoint distribution, being found in central west Africa, and south-eastern Africa ( Tanzania).

Etymology: The genus is named after our colleague, the French entomologist Philippe Moretto, who works extensively on African Scarabaeoidea.