Botanochara dignitosa ( Boheman, 1862 ) Sekerka, 2016

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 317-318

Botanochara dignitosa ( Boheman, 1862) comb. nov.

Poecilaspis dignitosa Boheman, 1862: 187 (original description).

Poecilaspis rudepunctata Spaeth, 1909b: 378 (original description), syn. nov.

Poecilaspis duodecimnotata [misidentification]: SPAETH (1940): 160 (redescription).

Botanochara duodecimnotata [misidentification]: BOROWIEC (1996): 131 (faunistics); BOROWIEC (2002): 52 (faunistics); BOROWIEC (2009c): 626 (faunistics).

Type locality. Poecilaspis dignitosa : ‘Brasilia’; P. rudepunctata : ‘ Paraguay: Chaco’.

Type material examined. Poecilaspis dignitosa : H: ♂, pinned, ‘E. Coll | Chevt. [w, p, cb] || Type [w, p, s, c, OLOTYPE rf] || Poecilaspis | dignitosa | Bhn Supp | Brasil Mocqs [w, hw by Chevrolat, s] || 67·56 [w, p, s]’ ( BMNH).

Poecilaspis rudepunctata : SYNTYPES ( MMUE). [Examined but label data not recorded].

Remarks. BOHEMAN (1862) described this species presumably from a single specimen and placed it to Poecilaspis Hope, 1840 (= Botanochara Chevrolat, 1836 ). The placement was generally accepted but the species was unknown to subsequent authors who only mentioned it in the catalogues (e.g. SPAETH 1914). BOROWIEC (1999a) transferred it to Cyrtonota Chevrolat, 1836 without any comments, probably based on Spaethʼs unpublished manuscript.

The holotype is a teneral specimen and probably somewhat smaller than it should be. The curious metallic colouration of dark parts mentioned in the primary description is artificial and would probably be black if the specimen was fully sclerotized and coloured. Nevertheless, other important morphological features are distinct and this taxon should be placed to Botanochara . It belongs among species with elytral maculation and is characteristic by subdepressed disc of elytra with coarse punctation and explanate margin of elytra with denser but finer punctation than on the disc. Similarly coarse punctation of elytra is present only in B. invasa ( Boheman, 1850) and B. boliviaca ( Spaeth, 1926) but these species differ in the horizontally flattened disc of elytra from base to apex while B. dignitosa has subdepressed disc gradually sloping from apex to base. Botanochara dignitosa fairly matches SPAETHʼs (1940) concept of B. duodecimnotata ( Boheman, 1850) which however is not in agreement with types of the latter species. Typical B. duodecimnotata has a regularly convex disc of elytra. The punctation is coarse, however, sparsely arranged thus intervals are wide and shiny and explanate margin has only slightly smaller punctures than on disc.

It is evident that published records of B. duodecimnotata should be verified whether they belong to typical specimens or to B. dignitosa . Here, I provisionally transfer them under the latter species because B. duodecimnotata was mostly misidentified in collections. SPAETH (1909b) described B. rudepunctata differing from B. duodecimnotata in mostly red dorsum. SPAETH (1940) stated that B. rudepunctata has so similar shape and sculpture of elytra to B. duodecimnotata that it could be only colour form of the latter. In his unpublished manuscript Spaeth considered B. rudepunctata as subspecies of B. duodecimnotata and BOROWIEC (1999a) synonymized it. However, all these comparisons and acts were based on misidentification of B. duodecimnotata , therefore I hereby synonymize B. rudepunctata with B. dignitosa .

Distribution. Bolivia: Santa Cruz ( BOROWIEC 2009c), Brazil: Mato Grosso ( BOROWIEC 1996), Paraguay ( SPAETH 1909b, BOROWIEC 2002).