Chrysolina coerulans coerulans (Scriba, 1791)

Bukejs, Andris, 2009, Two new leaf-beetles species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) for the Latvian fauna, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 9 (2), pp. 155-160 : 157-158

Chrysolina coerulans coerulans (Scriba, 1791)

= oblonga Duftschmid, 1825 ; olivaceonigra Fleischer, 1892; starhorni Reitter, 1912; violacea Panzer, 1797 nec Goeze, 1777; oblonga Duftschmidt, 1825 ; vitellina Schrank, 1781

Examined material ( Fig. 1 ): 1 ex.: Daugavpils district, Ilgas, Silene Nature Park, 1991 (1, leg. A.Barševskis) .

The species belong to subgenus Synerga Weise, 1900 (= Menthastriella Bechyne, 1950 ). Formerly, in the monograph “Fauna Baltica” ( Seidlitz 1872 - 1875), this species was mentioned as Chrysomela violacea Panz. but without a concrete locality for Latvia. In the second edition of this monograph (Seidlitz 1889-1891), it is mentioned only as potential species. The species was not included in catalogues of Latvian Coleoptera ( Telnov et al. 1997; Telnov 2004).

Body elongate. Pronotum without lateral impression; anterior margin with dense setae. Intercoxal prosternal process with smooth longitudinal groove. Epipleura in posterior half is not visible in lateral view. Aedeagus with narrow, obtuse apical denticle. Nominate subspecies with dorsum entirely blue or with longitudinal blue, green or golden coppery stripes

( Fig. 4); body length 7.0– 8.5 mm ( Bieńkowski 2004).

The species feeds on Mentha (Labiatae) .

Ch. coerulans (Scriba) is distributed in Central and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Asia Minor , Near East, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia, southern Ural, western China, northern and eastern India. There are 8 subspecies known. Nominate subspecies is reported from Europe and Asia Minor ( Bieńkowski 2001, 2004). In the Baltic States and Fennoscandia it is known from Estonia ( Silfverberg 2004); the species is known also from Belarus ( Lopatin, Nesterova 2005).

Figures

Fig. 1. The localities of the new leaf beetles species for the fauna of Latvia (1 – Ilgas, 2 – Gaiziņkalns, 3 - Sprukti): 1 – Chrysolina coerulans coerulans (Scriba); 2 and 3 – Cryptocephalus solivagus Leonardi & Sassi.