Brachiacantha lepida Mulsant, 1850

Nestor-Arriola, Jorge Ismael, Toledo-Hernandez, Victor Hugo, Solis, Angel, Gonzalez, Guillermo & Vetrovec, Jaroslav, 2021, The Brachiacantha Dejean, 1837 (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of Central America, ZooKeys 1024, pp. 157-196 : 157

Brachiacantha lepida Mulsant Figures 1 , 2

Brachyacantha lepida Mulsant, 1850: 523. Crotch 1873: 378. Crotch 1874: 210. Gorham 1894: 185. Leng 1911: 324. Leng 1920: 212. Korschefsky 1931: 205.

Brachyacantha duodecimguttata Leng, 1911: 289. Syn. nov.

Brachyacantha guttata Brachyacantha 12- Brachyacantha guttata : Leng 1911: 294. Syn. nov.

Brachiacantha lepida : Gordon 1985: 599.

Material examined.

271 specimens from Belize: Orange Walk; Costa Rica: Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia, Guanacaste, Limón, San José and Puntarenas; Guatemala: Chimaltenango, El Quiche, Guatemala City, Huehuetenango, Suchitepequez and Totonicapan; Honduras: Atlantida; Panamá: Chiriqui ( CEAM, CNIN, FSCA, USNMNH, OUMNH, MNCR, MUCR, MZCR) .

Diagnosis.

Length 2.3-3.7 mm, width 1.8-2.8 mm. Oval body. Dorsally pale yellow to pinkish orange except pronotum with a multilobed basal macula; each elytron with 4 black spots, one spot in a sub-humeral position, another in the second half of the elytron, a discal spot on the elytral suture, and a subapical spot on the elytral suture (Figs 1 , 2 ). Ventral color dark brown to light brown. Males with the ventrites V and VI slightly emarginated, not depressed. Male genitalia asymmetrical. Protibia flanged.

Distribution.

From southern USA to Panamá.

Discussion.

The small size and coloration are usually enough to distinguish this species from other species of the genus. Some specimens from Guatemala display the darker dorsal coloration that was previously described by Leng (1911) as the species B. duodecimguttata . The holotype of B. duodecimguttata is a female; the genitalia of male specimens with morphology similar to that described by Leng (1911) were dissected and no differences were found from that of B. lepida . Therefore, B. duodecimguttata should be considered a junior synonym of B. lepida .

Figures

Figures 1 - 4. Brachiacantha sp. 1 Brachiacantha lepida, dark habitus (image by Jorge Valdez Carrazco) 2 B. lepida, common habitus (image by Jorge Valdez Carrazco) 3 Brachiacantha fenestrata, male 4 Brachiacantha octostigma, male (image by Jorge Valdez Carrazco).