Cassida blanda Spaeth, 1933

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 : 37

Cassida blanda Spaeth, 1933

( figs. 2 , 67–68)

Cassida blanda Spaeth, 1933 a: 350 ; Borowiec, 1999: 241.

Description. L: 8.65 mm, W: 6.80 mm, Lp: 2.80 mm, Wp: 5.40 mm, L/W: 1.27, Wp/Lp: 1.93. Body short–oval (fig. 67).

Pronotum and scutellum ochraceous, disc rusty yellow, all punctures with darker centre and some with ochraceous areola, especially in postscutellar impression, half length of disc and on slope (figs. 67, 68). Explanate margin rusty yellow. Head, ventrites and legs yellow. Two basal antennal segments yellow, rest of antennae broken in the only known specimen.

Pronotum transverse, with maximum width behind the middle, anterior margin regularly convex, sides narrowly angulate, no basal corners but apices of angulate sides placed close to humeral angle. Disc indistinctly bordered from explanate margin except small lateral impressions, lateral lobes absent. Surface of disc shiny, impunctate, only with sparse pricks. Explanate margin broad, impunctate, shiny, transparent with well visible honeycomb structure.

Base of elytra not wider than base of pronotum, humeral angles moderately protruding anterad, subangulate. Disc strongly convex in profile, with postscutellar impressions and high, tuberculate X–shaped postscutellar elevation and some relief (fig. 68). Punctation fine, arranged in regular rows but interrupted by elytral relief, distance between punctures from as wide as to thrice wider than puncture diameter. Marginal row distinct, its punctures only slightly coarser than punctures in central rows. Intervals on slope slightly convex, on sides flat, in sutural half of disc thrice wider, on sides twice wider than rows, marginal interval broad, as wide as submarginal interval and submarginal row combined, with broad and only slightly convex humeral and lateral folds. Explanate margin moderately narrow, moderately declivous with external part tend to be subhorizontal, in the widest part six times narrower than disc, surface shiny with very shallow and sparse punctation and transverse grooves, appears regular, semitransparent but with well visible honeycomb structure.

Eyes very large, gena obsolete. Clypeus very broad, approximately 1.8 times as wide as long. Clypeal grooves very fine, in basal part hardly marked, run close to margin of eye, on apex converging in broad arch, surface of clypeus convex before antennal insertions, shiny, impunctate, clypeal grooves with row of small, setose punctures. Labrum narrowly emarginate to 1/5 length. Antennae broken in the only known specimen.

Prosternum narrow in the middle, strongly expanded apically, between coxae shallowly impressed, shiny, without special sculpture but with very small sparse, punctures armed with long hair, expanded apex slightly convex centrally, with several punctures armed with hair and slightly irregular surface.

Claws simple.

Distribution. Tanzania ( fig. 2 ).

Remarks. A very distinct species. The large size, narrowly angulate pronotal sides, base of elytra not wider than pronotum, and strongly convex elytral disc with a distinct postscutellar hump (figs. 67, 68) distinguish this species from all African members of the genus Cassida . A similar size and more or less distinct postscutellar hump are known only in species of the Cassida tosta group ( C. altiuscula , C. inaequalis , C. overlaeti and C. tosta ) but they differ in pronotum broadly rounded and base of elytra distinctly wider than pronotum. Individuals are usually dark coloured, black, reddish brown, or mixed reddish brown and black. Only C. inaequalis occasionally has the dorsum rusty reddish while in C. blanda the dorsum is ochraceous to rusty yellow ( figs. 63 , 67–68). No members of the C. tosta species–group has the postscutellar hump as high as in C. blanda .

Type examined. Holotype: [ TANZANIA]: D. O. Afrika, Ndanda, coll. Ertl ( ZSM).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Distribution of Cassida altiuscula (black circles), Cassida blanda (black square) and Cassida procurva (black diamond).

FIGURES 63–66. Cassida inaequalis. FIGURES 67–68. Cassida blanda. 63–64, 66–67. Dorsal; 65, 68. Lateral.