Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné, 1952

Gómez-Zurita, Jesús, 2016, Systematic revision of Calligrapha Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) with pale spots on dark elytra and description of two new species, Zootaxa 4072 (1), pp. 61-89 : 83-85

Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné, 1952

( Figs 2 a, 2b, 3a, 5b)

Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné, 1952 . Entom. Arb. Mus. Frey 3, p. 5.

Calligrapha panzoensis: Montelongo & Gómez-Zurita, 2014 . Zool. Scr., p. 607.

Holotype: Panzos Guatemala / HOLOTYPE [red] / HOLOTYPE [male] Calligrapha panzoensis m. J. Bechyné det., 1952 ( NMB). Holotype lacks anterior onychia, three apical tarsomeres in right mesotarsus, right metatibia and left metatarsus.

Paratypes: (1) Panzos Guatemala / ALLOTYPE [red] / ALLOTYPE [female] Calligrapha panzoensis m. J. Bechyné det., 1952 ( NMB); (2) [male], Panzos Guatemala ( NMB).

Habitus ( Fig. 5 b). Length: 7.52 mm, width: 5.14 mm. Body elongated oval, convex. Head, pronotum, scutellum, apex of mandibles, ventral surfaces and large ventral spot on femora black with dark green metallic lustre; apex of clypeus, disc of mandibles, dark parts of elytra, epipleura and apex of abdominal ventrites very dark brown; labrum, antennae, mouth segments and legs reddish brown; pale spots on elytra creamy yellow.

Head large, wide, deeply inserted into prothorax; surface very finely microreticulate, sparsely but more or less evenly punctured, with fine, short supraocular furrow, slightly divergent from margin of eye posteriorly; depressed area above eye margin with few short, recumbent white translucent setae; frons with fine longitudinal impression apically converging with broad V-shaped fronto-clypeal suture. Eyes large, elliptical, very weakly convex, elongated dorso-ventrally. Clypeus short, depressed, with deflexed apical border with long golden, medially convergent setae; surface microreticulate, sparsely punctured, with very short whitish setae along suture. Labrum short (W/L=2.90), anterior angles round, weakly emarginate at apex, with long golden medially convergent setae on lateral lobes. Mandibles large, prominent well beyond apical margin of labrum; sides nearly straight and slightly convergent before strong preapical weakly obtuse curvature. Last maxillary palpomere subtrapezoidal, strongly dilated towards feebly concave apical border, as wide as long at external weakly convex border; previous palpomere gradually widening at apical 2/3 towards broadly dilated apical border, slightly narrower than last segment apically; first palpomere club-shaped. Antennae slender, reaching well beyond base of pronotum; scape subcylindrical, slightly narrower at both ends, convex at anterior edge, flattened posteriorly; second antennomere small, almost half as long as first, slightly club-shaped; third antennomere narrow, slender, nearly cylindrical, slightly dilated to apex and almost twice as long as second antennomere; antennomeres 4–7 subequal, longer than second, shorter than third; antennomeres 8–10 slightly longer, subequal, proportionally wider but relatively slender (W/L eighth antennomere = 0.69); last antennomere slender, longest, with parallel sides before acutely pointed apex; antennomeres 1–6 nearly glabrous, with few scattered fine pale yellowish appressed setae and few semierect preapical setae; surface of antennomeres 7–11 more rugose and more densely covered by fine golden setae. Pronotum strongly transverse, nearly twice as broad at base as midlength (W/L=1.95); sides nearly straight at basal half and weakly convex before curvature to strongly produced anterior angles; sides entire margined, margin visible from above but nearly concealed preapically due to lateral convexity of callous area at anterior angles; anterior angles round with sides at acute angle, completely margined with margin thickened at angle and with large trichobothria and posteriorly recumbent setae internally near tip; anterior border weakly concave, neatly and completely margined; posterior angles obtuse; posterior border slightly biconcave, unmargined, with wide median convex lobe; surface more or less evenly convex before short lateral declivity, very finely microreticulate with secondary micropunctation and scattered stronger punctures, unevenly distributed, sparser on disc; area between disc and lateral declivity of pronotum with variously sized and sometimes confluent large round fossulae; lateral declivity with premarginal line of small punctures and transverse impressions; basal border with relatively strong longitudinally elongated punctures diminishing and disappearing towards middle. Hypomeral suture deeply impressed, regularly and gradually diverging from vicinity of posterior angle of pronotum towards base of anterior angle; area between suture and border of pronotum smooth, microreticulate and slightly raised above adjacent surface of hypomera; hypomera triangular, depressed on disc, microreticulate, with few slightly oblique basal scratches. Anterior border of prosternum concave, with raised regular, fine margin; anterior half of prosternum microreticulate, nearly unpunctured, slightly convex longitudinally; posterior half slightly depressed, punctured, with posteriorly recumbent pale yellowish, fine setae; prosternal process convex between procoxae, narrow, smoother than prosternum anteriorly, with few large setigerous punctures; process gradually widening posteriorly towards round posterior lobed angles. Mesoventrite short, glossy, with few scattered punctures bearing pale yellow woolly setae; shaped as four medially convergent ridges delimiting two lateral depressed areas, and apical and basal concavities to accommodate processes of prosternum and metaventrite. Mesanepisterna and mesepimera delicately shagreened, with scattered shallow punctures. Anterior border of metanepisterna wide, smooth, unpunctured; disc microreticulate with dense large punctures. Metaventrite short, 0.35x longer at middle than wide posteriorly; disc with fine median longitudinal impression and few scattered small punctures with fine short semierect whitish setae; sides finely leathery, with stronger punctures near anterior angles; anterior and lateral borders with wide margin, and posterior border unmargined but with transverse premarginal impression, deeper before metacoxae; posterior process as short plate with slightly concave apex. Scutellum shaped as isosceles triangle with blunt apex, slightly longer than wide at base (W/L=0.93), microreticulate, unpunctured. Elytra elongated, convex with broad round humeral angle, sides subparallel at middle before regularly round apex; surface very finely alutaceous with scattered evenly distributed, very fine punctures and stronger, denser punctures forming wavy longitudinal arrangements at basal half of elytra and homogeneously scattered at apical half; scutellar row of 8–10 punctures present as well as premarginal row following contour from scutellum to humerus; elytra margined from humeral area to apical 1/4 of suture. Each elytron with pattern of twelve more or less round large pale spots: (i) basal roundish spot between humerus and scutellum, narrowly separated from elytral margin, much closer to scutellum, reaching scutellar row of punctures internally; (ii) elongated subhumeral marking at humeral angle, covering humeral prominence and confluent externally with dark elytral margin; (iii) two aligned subequal round posthumeral spots; one external, laterally confluent with dark elytral margin and bisected by premarginal line of punctures; one subsutural, with inner part on third interval, touching second longitudinal row of punctures; (iv) subtriangular spot, slightly smaller and in space defined by previous four, closer to inner spots; (v) two roundish spots on disc; outer spot larger, on lateral declivity and at middle of elytron; inner spot on fourth interval, placed slightly behind; (vi) two roundish spots arranged slightly obliquely at base of apical declivity; inner spot larger, reaching second row of punctures internally; outer spot round, smallest of elytral spots, equidistant from suture and lateral border of elytron, placed more anteriorly than previous spot; (vii) longitudinally elongated spot on lateral declivity of elytron, at level with previous spot, occupying interval between premarginal and next rows of punctures; (viii) round spot on apical declivity of elytron, closer to margin than to suture; and (ix) large bean-shaped apical spot laterally and apically confluent with margin of elytron, reaching internally second row of punctures. Femora cylindrical, flattened and weakly concave ventrally, enlarged dorsally at middle, sparsely punctured, nearly smooth in darkened areas, with very fine, minute whitish appressed hairs; meso- and metatibiae straight, gradually widening towards apex; protibiae feebly curved; tibiae with gradually widening external furrow apically, sparsely impressed with fine elongated punctures; claws weakly divergent at base. Abdominal ventrites glossy at disc, slightly shagreened at sides, evenly and delicately punctured; fifth ventrite weakly truncated apically with slightly protruding median lobe fringed by long golden setae. Penis ( Figs 2 a, 2b) relatively slender, more or less parallel, slightly widening towards apex, around ostium; apical 2/3 nearly straight on lateral view, tapering dorsally at apex after ostium; dorsal flap slightly convex at apex; preapical weakly enlarged area regularly narrowed before lateral teeth at apex, distance between tips as wide as maximum width of tubular part of penis; apex of penis at wide obtuse blunt angle.

Distribution. Species currently known from two isolated spots in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, in Panzos ( Guatemala) and the southernmost slopes of this cordillera in northern Nicaragua ( Fig. 3 a).

Material examined (14 specimens).

GUATEMALA. NMB: (1) ten specimens: Panzos, Guatemala. NMNH: (1) one specimen: Panzos, Guatemala, F. Monrós Collection 1959, Calligrapha panzoensis Bech. F. Monrós det. 1957.

NICARAGUA. IBE-JGZ: (1) one specimen: Nicaragua, Estelí, Paisaje Terrestre Protegido Miraflores- Moropotente, 13.192633ºN 86.331308ºW 870m, 04/2010, Jean-Michel Maes coll., Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011; (2) one specimen: Nicaragua, Estelí, Paisaje Terrestre Protegido Miraflores- Moropotente, Finca Las Flores 13.192570ºN 86.331465ºW 865m, 04/2010, Jean-Michel Maes coll., Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011; (3) one specimen: Nicaragua, Estelí, Paisaje Terrestre Protegido Miraflores-Moropotente, Finca Don Avelino Rodríguez, 05/2010, Jean-Michel Maes coll., Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011.

Variation. Since the species is exclusively known from two localities, it is unsurprising that it shows little variation and the specimens from Nicaragua agree in every respect to the holotype. The female paratype is very similar to the male, except for its larger size (length: 8.78 mm; width: 5.66 mm), and the proportionally more slender tarsi. Colouration and elytral markings are very similar in disposition and proportions, only the external spot of the transversal series at apical declivity of elytra reaches dark elytral margin. The male paratype conforms well to the holotype, but shows some confluence of pale spots on elytra affecting these along elytral margin: the subhumeral spot merges with the next marginal spot on left elytron, and the apical spot merges with the previous marginal spot on both elytra. Relative to the position of pale markings, these are rather constant and very rarely show confluence, with only one other specimen showing the same confluence pattern as in the male paratype, but only on one elytron. Finally, the pronotum can be bluish, as in the holotype, but it is more commonly green, as in the allotype.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Ventral and lateral views and detailed dorsal view of distal end of penis of Calligrapha panzoensis Bechyné (a, b), C. vigintimaculata (Chevrolat) (c, d), C. barda (Say) (e, f), C. multiguttata Stål (g, h), and C. pavimentata sp. nov. (i, j). Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Calligrapha species with pale spots in Central America. Distribution map of the group of species allied to C. vigintimaculata (Chevrolat) (a), of C. multiguttata Stål (b), and the group of species allied to C. barda (Say) (c).

FIGURE 5. Dorsal and lateral views of (a) the neotype of Calligrapha vigintimaculata (Chevrolat), (b) the holotype of C. panzoensis Bechyné, and (c) the holotype of C. stillatipennis Stål. Scale bar = 2.0 mm.