A Taxonomic Overview Of The Genus Pseudoathyreus Howden And Martinez, And Redescription Of Two Related Species From Southern Africa (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae: Bolboceratinae)

A group of two closely related species from the southern part of the Afrotropical Region is defined within the Afro­Indian genus Pseudoathyreus. It includes P. rhodesianus Peringuey from southern Zaire and Zimbabwe, and P. freyi Gomes Alves from some localities of southern Mozambique and Natal’s coast. The species of this group are easily separated from all the other representatives of the genus by the following characters: (1) elytra with distinctly impressed striae; (2) small size, not exceeding 12 mm in length and 6 mm in width; (3) upper surface of eye clearly reduced; (4) distinctive colour patterns; (5) shape of male genital apparatus; (6) shape of clypeo­frontal carina and pronotal ornamentation; and (7) the geographic distribution extending throughout the Zambezian regional centre of endemism.