Mecynorhina ugandensis

Mecynorhina ugandensis is a beetle from the subfamily Cetoniinae, tribe Goliathini, it was described by Julius Moser in 1907. As suggested by its name, it is found in Uganda, but it is also present in adjacent parts of DR Congo.

Description

[file: Mecynorhina torquata ugandensis (blue male).jpg|thumb|left|Male of M. ugandensis]
It is a large beetle, with males reaching 85 mm and females 60 mm in length.

Classification

According to the last work of De Palma & Frantz, this species is included in the subgenus Mecynorrhinella Marais and Holm, 1992, and is a subspecies of Mecynorhina torquata.
For a simplification, we will follow Allard considering ugandensis as a good species.

Synonym

Zdenĕk Tesař described in 1935 Mecynorhina machulkai which is compared to Mecynorhina torquata, he seems not to know the species described by Moser.

Variations

All the specimens of this species are rarely the same. Moser described it with red elytra. In his paper, Tesař describes also several forms and illustrates many of them. Many varieties have been illustrated in The Beetles of the World, volume 7, plates 3–6. Here are other photos of the variations of the species, all the specimens are from Dr. Allard's collection.