Eucorydia ornata (Saussure, 1864)

Qiu, Lu, Che, Yan-Li & Wang, Zong-Qing, 2017, Revision of Eucorydia Hebard, 1929 from China, with notes on the genus and species worldwide (Blattodea, Corydioidea, Corydiidae), ZooKeys 709, pp. 17-56 : 44-45

Eucorydia ornata (Saussure, 1864) Figs 13 A–G; 14 J–K

Melestora ornata Saussure, 1864: 341 ("India, Bombay"); Walker 1868: 60.

Corydia ornata : Saussure 1869: 280; Walker 1870: 9; Kirby 1904: 167.

Eucorydia ornata : Hebard 1929: 98; Princis 1963: 83.

Corydia plagiata Walker, 1868: 58; Kirby 1904: 167; Hanitsch 1927: 41. Syn. n.

Eucorydia plagiata : Princis 1950: 203; Princis 1957: 90; Princis 1963: 83.

Corydia elegans Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893: 39 ("Carin Chebà (900-1100 m.)").

Type materials examined.

HOLOTYPE of Corydia ornata , male (GMNH), INDIA: "Indes orient./ M.H de Saussure/ ♂", "Corydia westwoodi Gers/ Indes./ var.", "Corydia ornata ♂/ Sauss.", also with a description script, all information is in handwriting. LECTOTYPE of Corydia plagiata , female (NHM, No. #876270), a round label: "48/ 22", a round blue emarginated label: “LECTO-TYPE”, a red label: "Lectotypus/ Corydia plagiata Walker ♀ (handwritten)/ K. Princis 1956 (handwritten)", "plagiata (handwritten)".

Diagnosis.

Male overall length nearly 15.0 mm (including tegmina), female overall length about 11.5 mm. Pronotum black, slightly dark bluish, each lateral border with one elongate yellow spot. Tegmina yellow, with pattern similar to that of E. westwoodi ; lateral margin of tegmen with an elongate blackish brown stripe that originates from the base and extends to the middle of tegmen margin; the apical portion curves inward and apex becomes bulbous, the distal portion of anal area with an large blackish oval spot, apex of tegmina brownish. Some individual with the yellow areas of tegmina reduced, and occupied by large blackish brown markings. Legs brown to dark brown, slightly bluish, abdomen yellow, with apical portion brown.

Remarks.

This species was originally recorded from Bombay, India ( Saussure 1864). Brunner von Wattenwyl (1893) described E. elegans from Carin Chebà, Myanmar, but this was later synonymized under E. ornata by Kirby (1904). We did not examine the type specimens of E. elegans , but the original description and illustration of E. elegans are in agreement with the type specimen of E. plagiata ; thus we consider Kirby’s synonymy (1904) reasonable. After examining the type of E. ornata and E. plagiata , we found the two types to have the same marking pattern, and the pronotum all with two elongate spots on the borders; thus we treat E. plagiata as a junior synonym of E. ornata .

From the original description of E. westwoodi , we found E. ornata quite similar to E. westwoodi by its tegmina marking. Yet they exhibit a distinct difference on the pronotum. The former has its pronotum with yellow elongate spots laterally, while the latter has a unicolored pronotum. E. ornata may be one variation of E. westwoodi , or a subspecies. We temporarily maintain them as two species since current knowledge is too limited to solve the problem.

Distribution.

India: Bombay; Myanmar.