Paratrikona rubescens Blake, 1939

Paratrikona rubescens Blake, 1939: 238 (original description).

Paratrikona albomaculata Borowiec, 2009b: 567 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Both taxa were collected on the same type locality: Dominican Republic, La Vega Province, Jarabacoa.

Type material examined. Paratrikona albomaculata: PARATYPE: pinned, ‘Rep.Dominikana | 5.- 7.5.2001 | Jarabacoa env. | lgt. Z.Martinová [w, p, cb] || PARATYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, p, cb] || Paratrikona | albomaculata n. sp. | HOLOTYPUS [sic!] | des. L. Borowiec 2009 [w, p, cb]’ (LSPC).

Paratrikona rubescens: HOLOTYPE: pinned, ‘M.C.Z. | Type No. | 23636 [w, hw by Blake, cb] || Jarabacoa | Aug. ʼ38, Dom.Rep. | 1,500-4,000 ft. | Darlington [w, p,c b] || Paratrikona | rubescens | type Blake [w, hw by Blake, cb] || M.C.Z. | Type | 23636 [r, p, cb, last row hw]’ (MCZ).

Remarks. BLAKE (1939) described Paratrikona rubescens from Jarabacoa and added that Darlington wrote that the specimens were ‘rather deep red with conspicuous white blotches irregularly arranged’ while only slight trace of the white markings remained on the dried specimens; as a result, Blake did not indicate them in her drawings. BLAKE (1971) published additional specimens of P. rubescens collected at ‘Arroya de Toro, Quebrada Honda’ including a figure showing clear white markings. BOROWIEC (2009b) described P. albomaculata from Jarabacoa and separated it from other species based on the conspicuous white pattern on elytra.

Paratrikona albomaculata has clearly marked, contrasting white spots on reddish-brown elytra while the holotype of P. rubescens has the spots only slightly indicated. Nevertheless, they are on exactly same position as in P. albomaculata . Both taxa also have identical punctation of elytra and pronotum, similar convexity of elytra, identical M-shaped black pattern of prontum, and are thus in my opinion conspecific. For these reasons I synonymized P. albomaculata with P. rubescens .

Distribution. Endemic to Dominican Republic (BLAKE 1939, 1971; BOROWIEC 2009b).