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
Orexita wagneri
(
Boheman, 1862
)
Coptocycla Wagneri
Boheman, 1862: 391
(original description).
Coptocycla nigropunctata
Wagener, 1881: 51
(original description);
SPAETH (1911)
: 256
(synonymy),
syn. confirm.
Coptocycla tripartita
Champion, 1894: 184
(original description),
syn. nov.
Type localities.
Coptocycla nigropunctata
: ‘America centralis’;
C. tripartita
: ‘
Nicaragua
: Chontales’;
C. wagneri
: ‘Costa Rica’.
Type material examined.
Coptocycla nigropunctata
:
SYNTYPE
(
MMUE
). [Examined but label data not recorded].
Coptocycla wagneri
:
SYNTYPE
: pinned, ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] ||
Costa Rica
[hw] | ex Deyrolle [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] ||
Coptocycla
| Wagneri | Boh |
Costa Rica
[w, hw by Baly, cb] || Col Deyrolle | Boh: Type [hw by Baly on underside of preceding label]’ (
BMNH
).
Coptocycla tripartita
:
HOLOTYPE
: pinned (right antenna partly broken): ‘
Chontales
, |
Nicaragua
. | Janson. [w, p, cb] || Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || Sp. figured.[w, p, cb] || Godman-Salvin | Coll., Biol. | Centr.-Amer.[w, p, cb] ||
Coptocycla
| tripartita, | ♂ type Ch [w, hw by Champion, cb]’ (
BMNH
).
Remarks.
As I mentioned under
O. postica
, species of
Orexita
are extremely variable regarding dorsal pattern and
O. wagneri
is another case where individual colour morphs were described as distinct species.
BOHEMAN (1862)
described
Coptocycla wagneri
presumably based on a single specimen with mostly yellow colouration and disc of elytra with irregular and coalescent black patches (see
Fig.
1
in
CHAMPION 1894
).
WAGENER (1881)
described
Coptocycla nigropunctata
having black dorsum with partly pale pronotum and elytra in basal two thirds with blood red (see
Fig.
2
in
CHAMPION 1894
).
CHAMPION (1894)
described
Coptocycla tripartita
and separated it from the two previously mentioned taxa by different colouration (see
Fig.
3
in
CHAMPION 1894
). He also added that all three taxa have similar punctation of elytra formed by quite large and sparsely arranged punctures also extending on the explanate margin of elytra.
CHAMPION (1894)
stated that
C. tripartita
stands nearest to
Coptocycla speculata
Boheman, 1862
from the Amazon Basin due to similar habitus and colouration.
SPAETH (1911)
transferred all abovementioned taxa to
Orexita
, synonymized
O. nigropunctata
with
O. wagneri
, mentioned that
O. tripartita
and
O. speculata
are unknown to him, and described
O. plagipennis
Spaeth, 1911
from
Colombia
and placed it in the same group as
O. wagneri
.
During my visits in various museums I had an opportunity to examine
types
of all abovemetioned taxa and I am reasonably certain that at least the three Central American taxa (
O. wagneri
,
C. nigropunctata
and
C. tripartita
) are conspecific as I was unable to find any relevant morphological characters to separate them besides colouration and I thus synonymize
C. tripartita
with
C. wagneri
and confirm the synonymy of
C. nigropunctata
. Furthermore, I treat
O. speculata
as a valid species differing from
O. wagneri
by the stouter body and large size but as I mentioned under
O. speculata
,
future studies may demonstrate that all of them belong to a single, broadly distributed polymorphic species.
Distribution.
Costa Rica
(
BOHEMAN 1862
,
BOROWIEC 2009c
), French
Guyana
(
BOROWIEC & MORAGUES 2005
),
Nicaragua
(
CHAMPION 1894
),
Panama
(
CHAMPION 1894
,
BOROWIEC 2009c
),
Venezuela
(
BOROWIEC 2002
).