Ora hyacintha Blatchley, 1914

Epler, J. H. & Gimmel, Matthew L., 2019, Notes on the Marsh Beetle Genus Ora Clark (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) in the Southeastern USA and Central America, The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (3), pp. 521-527 : 525

Ora hyacintha Blatchley, 1914

( Fig. 9 )

To date, this species is known only from the following counties in Florida: Alachua, Collier , Hernando , Highlands , Palm Beach , and Pinellas. Ciegler (2003) recorded this species from South Carolina, but examination of the specimen by JHE revealed it to be a teneral or light-colored example of O. texana .

Blatchley (1914) described this species from specimens from the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida. He noted “They were found only in and beneath the hollow stems of decaying water hyacinth ( Piaropus crassipes Mart. ) [now placed in Eichhornia ] next to the water’ s edge. When the stems were broken open the beetles would emerge and jump about in a grotesque manner. Supposing they were some form of Halticini, I recorded them at the time as ‘flat, jumping Chrysomelids.’ ”

Ora cf. marmorata Champion, 1897 ( Figs. 10 , 18 ) A single male specimen from southern Texas in the EGRC appears to be O. marmorata, but it is smaller (length = 2.9 mm, width = 1.9 mm) than

the two specimens described from Panama by Champion (4.0– 4.5 mm; 2.5–3.0 mm). Champion (1897) did not illustrate this species; its genitalia are undescribed. Champion also did not give the sex of his specimens, but did note they were “both somewhat immature”. This Texas specimen is most likely a small example of O. marmorata; more positive identification must wait until Champion’ s material is examined .

This species is within a group of Ora species that are broadly oval with explanate lateral margins on the elytra. It resembles O. depressa or O. semibrunnea Pic, 1922 but has a very different penis with a simple apex that is not sharply delimited ( Fig. 18 ; also see Libonatti 2014, 2015).

USA: TEXAS: Hidalgo Co., Bentson Rio Grande Val [ley] St [ate] P[ar]k, Oct. 6, 1986, E. Riley & J. Negrón (1♂, EGRC) .

Figures

Figs. 5–15. Ora species, dorsal habitus. O. discoidea: 5) Male vittate form, Guatemala; 6) Male unmarked form, Mexico; 7) Male lightly marked form, Mexico. 8) O. depressa, Mexico; 9) O. hyacintha, Florida; 10) O. cf. marmorata, Texas; 11) O. texana, Florida. O. troberti: 12–14) Specimens from Florida; 15) Specimen from Texas. Figs. 9 and 11–15 from Epler (2010). Not to scale.

Figs. 16–18. Ora species, apex of male genitalia, penis shaded. 16) O. depressa, Mexico; 17) O. discoidea, Florida; 18) O. cf. marmorata, Texas.