White Rock Campground, Pena Blanca Lake
Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Coordinates: 31.392852, -111.089069
Elevation: 3,882 ft
July 23, 2023
Size: 1.9 mm
Attracted to mercury vapor and ultraviolet lights
Determined by Dr. Nicolas Gompel, who described the species, and said: “The species is named for my good colleague Salvador Vitanza, a collector of this new species and many other interesting Aderidae.” In his publication, [Nicolas Gompel. 2024. The Aderidae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) of the USA and Canada. The Coleopterists Bulletin Vol. 78 (mo20), 1-84, (6 December 2024) https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-78.mo20.1], it reads: Diagnosis. Differs from the other Ariotus species from the USA and Canada by the spurs on both sides of the apex of the male prothoracic tibia, and by its elytral color pattern with a large periscutellar black area, a black transverse band at middle, and an apical patch extending along the suture. It also differs from Ariotus species with similar coloration by its entirely orange antennae (apex darker in A. quercicola), its slenderer habitus and narrower pronotum (habitus robust and pronotum broad in A. circinalis), and by the conformation of the aedeagus.