Annotated review of Cryptocephalinae (Clytrini), Synetinae and part of Galerucinae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) described by Carl Peter Thunberg
Author
Bezděk, Jan
Department of Zoology, Fisheries, Hydrobiology and Apiculture, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, CZ- 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
bezdek@mendelu.cz
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2019
2019-02-19
499
1
42
journal article
10.5852/ejt.2019.499
d21bedeb-4bcc-4dd5-aefd-5426ba5abaf4
2118-9773
2651404
A50C1B67-2795-45D2-86EE-0A60637A4D1D
Smeia undata
(
Thunberg, 1821
)
comb. nov.
Fig. 12
Clythra undata
Thunberg, 1821: 184
(original description).
Clythra
(
Smeia
)
virginea
Lacordaire, 1848: 24
(original description).
Syn. nov.
Melitonoma pictipennis
Jacoby, 1898: 350
(original description).
Syn. nov.
Clythra undata
– Forsberg 1821: 288 (redescription). —
Lacordaire 1848: 393
.
Miopristis undata
–
Gemminger & Harold 1874: 3280
(catalogue).
Miopristis virginea
–
Gemminger & Harold 1874: 3280
(catalogue).
Melitonoma pictipennis
–
Medvedev 1979: 170
(=
Smeia virginea
).
Type localities
Clythra undata
: “Cap” [= from the publication title].
Clythra
(
Smeia
)
virginea
: “Caffrerie”.
Melitonoma pictipennis
: “Pretoria”.
Material examined
Holotype
SOUTH AFRICA
• ♂; “Uppsala Univ. Zool. Mus. / Thunbergsaml. nr. 8234 /
Clythra undata
/ Cap. TYP [r, p] //
catenata
. / Cap. 13 [box label, w, h]”;
UUZM
.
Additional material
SOUTH AFRICA
,
Western Cape
• ♂,
syntype
of
Clythra
(
Smeia
)
virginea
; “23051 [w, p] // Promont. / b. sp. / Krebs [blue-grey, h] //
Smeia
/
virginea
Lac.
* [w, h] // Hist.-Coll. (
Coleoptera
) / Nr. 23051 /
Smeia virginea
Lac.
x / Promont. b. sp. Krebs / Zool. Mus. Berlin [b, p] //
Smeia
/
virginea
Lac.
[h] /
L. Medvedev
det. 96 [p] 7 [w, h] // SYNTYPE /
Smeia virginea
/
Lacordaire, 1848
/ labelled by MFNB 2017 [r, p]”;
ZMHB
•
1 ♀
; “Promont. b. sp.” [=
Promontorio Bonae Spei
];
Krebs
leg.;
ZMHB
. –
Gauteng
•
1 ♀
,
syntype
of
Melitonoma pictipennis
; “SYN- / TYPE [white round label with blue collar, p] // Pretoria / (W. L. D.) [w, p] // Distant Coll. / 1911-383 [w, p] //
Melitonoma
/
pictipennis
/ Jac. [b, h] //
Smeia
/
virginea
Lac.
[h] /
L. N. Medvedev
det. 19 [p] 68 [w, h]”;
BMNH
•
1 ♀
,
syntype
of
Melitonoma pictipennis
; “SYN- / TYPE [white round label with blue collar, p] // Pretoria / (W. L. D.) [w, p] // Jacoby Coll. /
1909-28
a [w, p] //
Melitonoma
/
pictipennis
/ Jac. [b, h]”;
BMNH
•
Distribution
RSA
.
Comments
The identity of
Clythra undata
was unclear to the subsequent authors.
Lacordaire (1848)
listed
C. undata
among the species not known to him but, based on the description, he speculated its position within the genus
Macrolenes
. In the catalogues by
Gemminger & Harold (1874)
,
Jacoby & Clavareau (1906)
and
Clavareau (1913)
, it is classified in the genus
Miopristis
.
Fig. 12.
Smeia undata
(
Thunberg, 1821
)
comb. nov.
A–D
. Holotype, ♂, 6.5 mm, UUZM.
A
. Dorsal view.
B
. Frontal view.
C
. Label.
D
. Box label.
E–F
. Syntype of
Clythra virginea
Lacordaire, 1848
, ♂, not measured, ZMHB.
E
. Dorsal view.
F
. Labels.
G–H
. Syntype of
Melitonoma pictipennis
Jacoby, 1898
, ♀, not measured, BMNH.
G
. Dorsal view.
H
. Labels.
The comparison of the primary
type
specimens of
Clythra undata
,
C. virginea
and
Melitonoma pictipennis
showed that all three taxa are conspecific, and they are therefore synonymized here.
Medvedev (1979)
synonymized
Melitonoma pictipennis
Jacoby, 1898
with
Smeia virginea
without any comments.
Melitonoma pictipennis
was described from two females now deposited in BMNH. Both specimens have the outer elytral black spots connected, forming a lateral black stripe. Except for this colour peculiarity, I do not see any other difference.
Lacordaire (1848)
did not specify the number of available specimens when describing
Smeia virginea
, only mentioning material from Caffrerie deposited in “Museum
Berlin
”. Based on the catalogue of this historic collection, the original series included three specimens (Jäger 2017, pers. comm.) and I was able to locate two of them: a male and a female. Because
Lacordaire (1848)
explicitly mentioned that the female was unknown to him, I treat only the male as a
syntype
, the female is listed here in the section ‘Additional material examined’.
The genus
Smeia
Lacordaire, 1848
is among the genera with pubescent propleura and can be distinguished by the combination of the following characters: epipleura glabrous, male fore legs elongate with strongly thickened femora, anterior margin of elytra elevated along whole length, antennomere IV elongate, pronotum glabrous (see the generic keys by
Medvedev 1970
,
1989a
). Currently, only two species are classified in
Smeia
:
S. undata
comb. nov.
and
S. braunsi
Medvedev, 1993
, both distributed in
RSA
.
Smeia braunsi
differs from
S. undata
comb. nov.
in apex of aedeagus bulbous and carinate underside, and missing humeral and preapical elytral spots (
Medvedev 1993a
).