Cassida catenata ( Boheman, 1855 )

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 283-284

Cassida catenata ( Boheman, 1855)

Coptocycla catenata Boheman, 1855: 262 (original description).

Coptocycla dorsalis Boheman, 1855: 322 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Coptocycla catenata : ‘Java’ [fixed by lectotype designation]; C. dorsalis : ‘Java’.

Type material examined. Coptocycla catenata : LECTOTYPE (designated by BOROWIEC 1999a): pinned, ‘ Java. | Mellb [w, p, s] || Type.[w, p, s] || LECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, p, cb] || NHRS-SRAH | 000000266 [w, p, cb]’ ( NHRS).

Coptocycla dorsalis : HOLOTYPE: pinned, ‘Mus. | Westerm. [w, p, cb] || Java | Maj. 1814 | Dorsalis | Bohem. [w, hw, cb, brown frame]’ ( ZMUC).

Remarks. Cassida catenata is one of the commonest species in SE Asia, distributed from continental Malaysia to Sumba ( BOROWIEC & ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA 2016). It has a very variable colour pattern, ranging from a uniformly yellow dorsum to a primarily black discs of pronotum and elytra. The typical form has the disc of elytra black with numerous yellow spots and the disc of pronotum black with two yellow spots.

BOHEMAN (1855) also described C. dorsalis from Java, from the collection of Westermann. This taxon remained unknown to subsequent workers and was listed only in catalogues (see BOROWIEC 1999a). The original type specimen was located in ZMUC, where Westermann’s collection is housed. In my opinion this taxon represents a black form of C. catenata as it differs from the latter only in colouration. Since both taxa were described in the same publication I followed the Principle of the first reviser ( ICZN 1999: Article 24.2) and chose the name C. catenata as valid, since it has been mentioned in numerous publications and is mostly correctly applied. The black form of C. catenata was also described as C. ferrari (Spaeth 1904) , already synonymized by BOROWIEC (2001).

Cassida catenata was also recorded from the southern foothills of the Eastern Himalaya (e.g. MAULIK 1919), however, that population is probably a distinct taxon and was thus not included in the distribution of the species.

Distribution. Indonesia (eastwards to Sumba) and Malaysia (peninsular and Sarawak) (BOROWIEC & ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA 2016).