A male cetoniine specimen from the old Schürhoff collection currently deposited in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Pretoria, South Africa), was recently submitted for identification and has been found to represent a yet undescribed species of the poorly-known genus Callophylla Moser, 1916. The species is named C. macrocephala sp. n., in recognition of its wider than average head, particularly at the level of the clypeus, and originates from the southern Tanzanian highlands, near the Tanzania-Zambia border town of Nakonde. This brings the total number of species now known for this genus to four, two from West Africa and two from East-Central Africa. All species were described on the basis of a male only, or this and a few extra specimens. The female is only known for the two West African species, C. costata Moser, 1916 and C. lamottei Antoine, 2007. A dichotomous key for the identification of the species of this genus is presented for the first time. It is suggested that the genus may be constituted of high altitude specialists, with a short period of activity and no ability to feed at the adult stage.

Afrotropical region, Callophylla , Cetoniinae , new species, Tanzania

The genus Callophylla Moser, 1916 was described along with the type species C. costata Moser, 1916, based on a male from central Cameroon. What was at first believed to be the female of the same species was described much later by Ruter (1954), on the basis of a specimen collected on Mount Nimba in Guinea. It was only in 2007 that sufficient material had finally become available to allow Antoine (2007) to describe the correct female of C. costata along with a new species, C. lamottei Antoine, 2007, to which the female described earlier by Ruter (1954) was recognised to belong. Further to this, a third species, C. takanoi Legrand, 2015 was recently described on the basis of a single male collected in western Zambia during a survey undertaken to the region by the British Natural History Museum. Thus, so far only a handful of specimens are known for the entire genus and of these apparently only two are female, one belonging to C. costata and the second to C. lamottei. The female of C. takanoi is undescribed and information on habitat and distribution of the three species of the genus is extremely limited.

A new species, recently recognised from an old specimen originating from the “Deutsch-Ostafrika” collection of Schürhoff and currently preserved in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (formerly Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, South Africa), is here described, thus providing additional, valuable information on the diversity of this poorly known genus.

The holotype and only known specimen for this new species was submitted by Ms Ruth Müller of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Pretoria, South Africa) for identification, as part of a loan to the author of several cetoniine specimens which are currently under review. The usual terminology of Krikken (1984) and Holm and Marais (1992) is followed in this study for the description of morphological characters. Specimen total length and maximum width were measured using a Vernier calliper, from the anterior margin of the clypeus to the apex of the pygidium and at the widest point of the elytra, respectively.

Photos of whole specimen dorsal and ventral habitus were taken with a Nikon CoolPix S9700 digital camera with macro setting, while photos of the male genitalia and other anatomical details were obtained using a Nikon DigitalSight DS-Fi2 camera attached to a Nikon SMZ25 dissecting microscope. The background was removed from the photos using Microsoft Word 2010 (Picture Tools), in order to increase clarity of resolution. The Combine ZP Image Stacking Software by Alan Hadley (alan@micropics.org.uk) was used to obtain z-stacking composite images.

Data on distribution and period of adult activity of the various species of the genus Callophylla were obtained from Moser (1916), Ruter (1954), Sakai and Nagai 1998, Antoine (2007), Legrand (2015), Beinhundner (2017) and from holders and curators of relevant collections (as per Acknowledgements section).

Callophylla macrocephala sp. n. represents the fourth species described within a very unique and poorly known genus. Very few specimens are known for this genus, and most are from Cameroon and belong to the species C. costata. The female of C. takanoi and C. macrocephala remains unknown, while only one female of each C. costata and C. lamottei are known with certainty (Ruter 1954, Antoine 2007, Beinhundner 2017).

A remarkable colour variation has been observed in the dorsal habitus of C. costata, with specimens ranging from completely reddish-ochre to dark brown and even completely black. Most specimens, however, exhibit a combinations of the lighter colours with a variable degree of black ornamentation on pronotum and elytra (Moser 1916, Beinhundner 2017). The head and scutellum appear to show the most conservative trend, in that they are always predominantly black, with few outstanding exceptions. The antennal clubs are invariably reddish to brown, even in the darkest specimens (Beinhundner 2017). Unfortunately, no similar conclusions can be drawn for the other three species, due to lack of material beyond the holotypes. However, in C. lamottei the male paratype is completely black, while the female holotype is reddish-brown with black areas across part of the dorsal surface (Antoine 2007). It seems likely, therefore, that a wide variability in colour pattern may be a typical feature of the entire genus.

The apparent rarity that characterises all species of the genus Callophylla is probably related to their unusual life cycle and ecology. Unfortunately, little information is yet available on the habitat and feeding habits of adults. One specimen of C. costata was reportedly collected inside a termite nest in southern Cameroon (Thierry Garnier, pers. comm.), while the label accompanying the only known specimen of C. takanoi explicitly states that it was collected in a “yellow pan trap” at an altitude of 1400 m (Legrand 2015). There is no evidence, however, to suggest that adults may feed on either flowers, fruits or sap flows. These and other details (e.g., “Nakonde Hochland”, “Mont Kala”, “Mont Nimba”), also seem to point towards a mountainous habitat for the genus.

Concerning period of adult activity, the scarce records available in the literature and collections in general indicate that adults of this genus may only be active for short periods, possibly after major rainfall events. Collection records range from March to December, with most in March/April (Sakai and Nagai 1998, Antoine 2007, Legrand 2015, Thierry Garnier and Gerhard Beinhundner pers. comm.).

Funding for the project was provided a through productivity grant awarded by the Nelson Mandela University (Port Elizabeth, South Africa). Thanks to Lynette Clennell for taking all photographs included in the manuscript. Ruth Müller of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (TMSA Pretoria, South Africa) is particularly thanked for proactively submitting the holotype specimen for study. I am also very grateful to Thierry Garnier (Montpellier, France) and Gerhard Beinhundner (Euerbach, Germany) for providing collection data on Callophylla costata.