Chrysolina caspari, Tang & Zhang & Guo & Luo & Jiang & Pan, 2023

Tang, Jin, Zhang, Gongaote, Guo, Junqi, Luo, Lingxuan, Jiang, Jiamei & Pan, Hongbo, 2023, Three Amazing New Species Of The Genus Chrysolina (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae) From China, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 69 (3), pp. 199-211 : 200-205

publication ID	https://zoobank.org/7B2844FD-4725-4DBF-B1C8-F61DD86DCB30
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03EC7E0B-E873-FF8F-FE65-FC14938AB6B6
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Chrysolina caspari
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Chrysolina caspari sp. n.

http://zoobank.org/ 59EB355E-C3F7-47C8-BEC3-92404C0A30BE ( Figs 1A, D, E View Fig ; 2A View Fig ; 3A, D View Fig ; 4 View Fig )

Material examined – Holotype: China, Sichuan Province, NW of Mianning , 28°40’03” N / 102°00’56” E – 28°40’07”N / 102°00’49” E, H= 4035–4300 m, 7.VI.2012, I. Belousov, G. Davidian, I. Kabak, A. Korolev leg.: male ( ZIN); with red GoogleMaps Holotype label; paratypes: China, Sichuan Province, NW of Mianning , 28°39’13” N / 101°58’34” E, H= 2955 m, 9.VI.2012, I. Belousov, G. Davidian, I. Kabak, A. Korolev leg.: 3 females ( ZIN, ABC); China, Sichuan Province, NW of Mianning, 28°39’46” N / 101°59’04” E, H= 3325 m, 9.VI.2012, I. Belousov, G. Davidian, I. Kabak, A. Korolev leg.: 1 female ( ABC); with red GoogleMaps Paratype labels.

Specimen not included in the type series: China, Sichuan Province, N of Luding city, N of Lanan, 30°05’26” N / 102°14’34” E, H= 3885 m, 21. V GoogleMaps .2014, I. Belousov, I. Kabak leg.: 1 female ( ABC) .

Description. Male (holotype). Body oval, 1.5× as long as wide, convex. Dorsal side bright metallic, head and pronotum brassy, elytra grass green. Antennae piceous with antennomeres 1 and 2 rufous apically. Maxillary palpi and tarsi piceous. Femora and tibiae brassy. Underside black with brassy reflection. Head sericeous, distinctly reticulate; pronotum and elytra shining, obsoletely reticulate; besides that, dorsal side micropunctulate (punctures about 0.005 mm wide).

Last maxillary palpomere short and narrow, as long as wide, 1.5× shorter and 1.4× narrower than penultimate one.

Antennal insertion 1.5× closer to clypeus than to eye.

Pronotum broadest at mid-length, with lateral sides rounded, more convergent anteriorly than posteriorly. Lateral callus convex, but not separated from disc, lateral impression absent. Pronotum covered by dense, fine punctures (0.02–0.03 mm wide). Pronotum anteriorly marginated, without setae. Setiferous pores at anterior angles absent.

holotype; F = Ch. melchiori sp. n., holotype

Prothoracic hypomeron weakly convex, laterally with obsolete impression, without wrinkles. Basal fold of prothoracic hypomeron absent.

Metasternum marginated anteriorly.

Elytron without humeral callus. Elytral punctures 0.03 mm wide, arranged in abbreviated scutellar row and 10 dense entire rows. Puncture rows equidistant, irregular, partly double. Rows 6–8 mostly irregular, hardly traced. Intervals flat, covered by fine punctures (0.015 mm wide). Sutural stria absent at apical slope. Elytral epipleuron inclined outside, visible along entire length in lateral view, without setae.

Hind wings absent.

Tarsomeres 1–3 with entire sole, narrow, slightly broadened in fore- and mid-tarsi. Claw tarsomere without denticles beneath.

Pygidium without longitudinal impression.

Last abdominal sternite convex, slightly depressed medially, with apical margin bisinuate.

Aedeagus strongly arcuate, thick basally and flattened apically, with apex narrowly drawn out, bottle-shaped. Flagellum simple, cylindrical, not very narrow, exposed.

Body length: 6.4 mm.

Variability. Females (paratypes) 7.0 mm long, coppery dorsally, with last abdominal sternite evenly convex and rounded apically, tarsomeres 1–3 narrow, with entire sole.

Differential diagnosis. The shape of the last maxillary palpomere is of great importance in the taxonomy of the genus Chrysolina . This character allows distinguishing the subgenera ( BIEŃKOWSKI 2019). The shape of the last maxillary palpomere in the new species (it is shorter and narrower than the penultimate one) is a rare case in the genus Chrysolina . Among Chinese species, this shape of maxillary palpi is known only in one species, Ch. pieli Chen, 1936 (not assigned to any subgenus) from SE China ( Fig. 1K View Fig ). Ch. pieli differs from the new species in its larger size (7.1–7.6 mm long), broad, almost hemispherical body ( Fig. 1H, I View Fig ), the presence of large punctures on the lateral sides of the pronotum, simple posterior margin of the last abdominal sternite in the male, and the shape of the aedeagus: apex bearing small appendix separated by constriction ( CHEN 1936, and material examined) ( Fig. 1J View Fig ). It is interesting that Ch. pieli , like the new species, has one more rare feature: the sutural stria of elytron is absent. However, I do not include the two species in question into new subgenus due to the differences described above.

The last maxillary palpomere, which is much shorter and narrower than penultimate, is atypical for the native Chinese fauna of subtribe Chrysolinina . In addition to the two above-mentioned species, it is present only in the invasive Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say, 1824) ( YANG et al. 2015) . However, it is found in neotropical genera of the same subtribe, namely in Eugonycha Chevrolat, 1843 , Proseicela Chevrolat, 1837 , Platyphora Gistel, 1857 , Labidomera Chevrolat, 1837 , Leptinotarsa Stål, 1858 , Strichosa Chevrolat, 1843 , Stilodes Chevrolat, 1843 , Deuterocampta Chevrolat, 1837 , Cryptostetha Baly, 1858 , Doryphora Illiger, 1807 , Trichomela Chapuis, 1874 , Elytrosphaera Chevrolat, 1843 ( STÅL 1862 –1865, BECHYNÉ 1946, 1947, 1954, DACCORDI 1994, DACCORDI & LESAGE 1999, FLOWERS 2004, DACCORDI & ZOIA 2017, specimens examined).

Landscape in type locality: Rhododendron bushes, meadows, rock outcrops (I. I. Kabak, pers. comm.) ( Fig. 4 View Fig ).

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of biblical Magian Caspar, is due to the fact that the article was being prepared before Christmas and New Year.