Cassida delenifica Boheman, 1862

Borowiec, Lech & Świętojańska, Jolanta, 2022, A monograph of the Afrotropical Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Part 6. Revision of the tribe Cassidini 3, the genus Cassida L., Zootaxa 5171 (1), pp. 1-250 : 49-51

Cassida delenifica Boheman, 1862

( figs. 13 , 155–157)

Cassida delenifica Boheman, 1862: 313 ; Gemminger & Harold, 1876: 3653; Borowiec, 1999: 246.

Cassida (Cassida) delenifica: Spaeth, 1914 b: 118 .

Description. L: 5.15–5.70 mm, W: 4.20–4.65 mm, Lp: 1.80–2.00 mm, Wp: 3.30–3.65 mm, L/W: 1.21–1.23, Wp/ Lp: 1.78–1.89. Body short–oval (figs. 155, 156).

Pronotum yellow, disc with large, brown M–shaped spot of widened bases of lateral branches. Scutellum yellow. Elytral disc yellow with brown to black pattern: always available round spot at top of postscutellar elevation, small stripe inside postscutellar impression, two short stripes at base of disc and two spots on second interval behind its half length (fig. 155). In darker forms postscutellar impressions mostly brown to black, humeral area dark, sides of disc with several patches, partly coalescent and top of disc with some small spots (figs. 156, 157). Explanate margin yellow with brown to black sutural spot. Head, ventrites legs and antennae uniformly yellow.

Pronotum elliptical, with maximum width in the middle, anterior margin regularly convex, sides narrowly rounded to subangulate, no basal corners, lateral lobes indistinct, sides indistinctly bordered from explanate margin except sort impression laterally. Surface of disc shiny, impunctate, with very sparse pricks. Explanate margin broad, impunctate, shiny, transparent with well visible honeycomb structure.

Base of elytra slightly wider than base of pronotum, humeral angles distinctly protruding anterad, angulate. Disc moderately convex, with distinct postscutellar and shallow principal impressions and well marked H–shaped postscutellar elevation but not tuberculate in profile (fig. 157). Punctation coarse and dense, arranged in completely regular rows, punctures in rows almost touching each other. Marginal row distinct, its punctures slightly coarser than punctures in central rows. Intervals mostly linear, only second interval on slope as wide as rows and distinctly convex, marginal interval as wide as submarginal row and interval combined, no humeral fold, lateral fold short but distinct. Explanate margin broad, moderately declivous, in the widest part slightly more than three times narrower than disc, surface shiny, shallowly and densely punctate, appears slightly irregular, transparent with well visible honeycomb structure.

Eyes very large, gena obsolete. Clypeus broad, approximately 1.3 times as wide as long. Clypeal grooves fine, run close to margin of eye, converging in triangle with obtuse top, surface of clypeus flat or shallowly impressed, its surface shiny with few very small punctures. Labrum shallowly emarginate. Antennae moderately slim, segments 9–10 approximately 1.2 times as long as wide. Length ratio of antennal segments: 100:57:67:67:63:50:53:57:57:60:120. Segment 3 approximately 1.2 times as long as segment 2 and as long as segment 4.

Prosternum broad in the middle, strongly expanded apically, area between coxa shallowly impressed, shiny without special sculpture, expanded part slightly convex, shiny, with few small, setose punctures.

Claws simple.

Distribution. Cameroon and Nigeria. Specimen from Tanzania probably mislabelled ( fig. 13 ).

Remarks. A member of the Cassida lacrymosa species–group. Its pronotal and elytral pattern is similar to patterns of several species of the group such as pale forms of C. depicta ( fig. 129 ), C. natalensis ( fig. 134 ), C. irregularis ( fig. 140 ) and dark forms of C. lacrymosa ( fig. 186 ) but C. delenifica distinctly differs from all species of the group in the presence of a sutural spot on the explanate margin of elytra (figs. 155, 156).

Type examined. Holotype: [ NIGERIA]: Old Calabar , Murray ( NRS)

Other specimens examined. CAMEROON: Jaunde , X 1914, 1, Tesmann ( MNHW) ; Joh.–Albrechtshöhe , 7 X–22 XI 1898, 1, L. Conradt ( MNHW) ; Kamerunberg, 1 ( MNHW) ; Mueli, N slope of Kamerungeb. , 600 m, II 1858, 1, Hartwig ( MNHW) .

TANZANIA: Victoria Nyansa, Ukerewe Is., 1, Conrads ( ZMHU).

Figures

FIGURE 13. Distribution of Cassida delenifica (black squares), Cassida flavosignata (black circles) and Cassida elgonensis (black diamond).

FIGURES 128–132. Cassida depicta. 128–129, 131–132. Dorsal; 130. Lateral.

FIGURES 133–135. Cassida natalensis. 136–137. Cassida vespertilio. 133–134, 136. Dorsal; 135, 137. Lateral.

FIGURES 138–141. Cassida irregularis. 138, 140–141. Dorsal; 139. Lateral.

FIGURES 182–187. Cassida lacrymosa. 182–183, 185–186. Dorsal; 184, 187. Lateral.