Sulawesi large-eyed Onthophagus and their relatives: Seven new species, with a key (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Abstract

Seven new species of the scarab genus Onthophagus Latreille, 1802 from Sulawesi (Indonesia) are keyed, described, and illustrated. Six of them are characterized by unusually large ocular foramina. Although large-eyed species have been reported from adjacent regions, these are the first records for Sulawesi. The new species are: Onthophagus mogo, O. sinagai, O. vanofwegeni, O. vanasseni, O. vanderblomi, and O. watuwila. Four groups of species are recognized. The artificial nature of the subgeneric concept Micronthophagus Balthasar, 1963, frequently used to accommodate large-eyed Onthophagus species, is exemplified by a very close relative of vanderblomi, the narrow-eyed new Sulawesi species O. sembeli, here also described. This species pair is tentatively allocated to Boucomont's (1914) O. variolaris group; the position of this group is discussed in relation to the essentially Oriental subgenus Indachorius Balthasar, 1941.