Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
Author
Sekerka, Lukáš
text
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae
2016
2016-07-15
56
1
275
344
journal article
56063
10.5281/zenodo.5305725
31cb15bf-28f5-4b27-86df-6a1b28cbce41
0374-1036
5305725
E24F1028-C6AC-4323-9ED5-C9B7FF3434ACD
Cassida nigriventris
Boheman, 1854
Cassida nigriventris
Boheman, 1854: 410
(original description).
Coptocycla mundula
Boheman, 1862: 452
(original description),
syn. nov.
Type localities.
Cassida nigriventris
: ‘Thibet’;
Coptocycla mundula
: ‘Ega prope fluvium Amazonum’ [original
type
locality, sic!], ‘
Malacca
and Singapore’ [corrected according to the
BMNH
register, however doubtful].
Type material examined.
Cassida nigriventris
:
HOLOTYPE
: pinned (missing head and pronotum kept in a separate vial): ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || E. Coll. |
Chevt
. [w, p, cb] ||
Cassida
. [p] | nigriventris | Type Bohem. [w, hw by Maulik, cb] ||
Cassida
| nigriventris |
Chevt
Thibet
[w, hw by Chevrolat, s] || 67·56 [w, p, s]’ (
BMNH
).
:
SYNTYPES
:
1 spec.
, pinned, ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || 55 | 26 [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Ega [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] ||
Coptocycla
| mundula | Boh | Ega [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Boh | Type | 20 [hw by Baly on the verso of the previous label]’ (
BMNH
);
1 spec.
, pinned, ‘55 | 26 [w, hw, s, circle label] || Ega [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] ||
C. mundula
| Bhn. [w, hw by Gahan, cb] || =
Cassida
| nigriventris | Bhn | CJGahan [w, hw by Gahan, cb]’ (
BMNH
).
Remarks.
BOHEMAN (1862)
described
Coptocycla mundula
from the collection of J. S. Baly and gave Ega, nowadays Tefé in the state of Amazonas,
Brazil
, as the type locality. Since its description it remained enigmatic taxon to subsequent authors and the taxon was only listed in catalogues (see
BOROWIEC 1999a
). Boheman did not state how many specimens he had at his disposal. There are
two specimens
from the collection of J. S. Baly, both agreeing with the primary description, provided with the same register number and mounted in the same style, which I consider
syntypes
. It is possible that the specimens were originally provided only with a number referring to the register of BMNH collections and it is unknown why Baly considered them as from Ega. According to the register these specimens were collected by A. R. Wallace in
Malacca
and
Singapore
(M. Barclay, pers. comm.). The second
syntype
is provided with an additional label by C. J. Gahan, former keeper of the BMNH entomology collections, who noticed that this taxon is conspecific with
Cassida nigriventris
, but never published the synonymy.
BOHEMAN (1854)
described
C. nigriventris
presumably from a single specimen as he gave a single length measurement, stated only collection of Chevrolat as depository and did not keep any specimen. The
holotype
is housed at the BMNH and presently has its pronotum and head broken off and stored in a separate vial pinned next to the specimen.
Syntypes
of
C. mundula
are identical to the
holotype
of
C. nigriventris
and I consider
C. mundula
a junior subjective synonym of the latter species.
As mentioned above, the original
type
locality of
C. mundula
given by Boheman and written by Baly on his identification label is erroneous and is here replaced by data from the BMNH register. However, it is still uncertain that these specimens were indeed collected either in
Singapore
or peninsular
Malaysia
, as there is no other material of this species from this region.
Cassida nigriventris
is a common species of the Himalayan foothills extending from
Pakistan
to mountains of northern
Thailand
and
Vietnam
.
Distribution.
Bhutan
,
China
(
Guangxi
,
Yunnan
,
Xizang
), N
India
,
Nepal
,
Pakistan
,
Thailand
and
Vietnam
(
BOROWIEC & ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA 2016
).