Orexita wagneri ( Boheman, 1862 )

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 315-316

Orexita wagneri ( Boheman, 1862)

Coptocycla Wagneri Boheman, 1862: 391 (original description).

Coptocycla nigropunctata Wagener, 1881: 51 (original description); SPAETH (1911): 256 (synonymy), syn. confirm.

Coptocycla tripartita Champion, 1894: 184 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Coptocycla nigropunctata : ‘America centralis’; C. tripartita : ‘ Nicaragua: Chontales’; C. wagneri : ‘Costa Rica’.

Type material examined. Coptocycla nigropunctata : SYNTYPE ( MMUE). [Examined but label data not recorded].

Coptocycla wagneri : SYNTYPE: pinned, ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || Costa Rica [hw] | ex Deyrolle [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || Coptocycla | Wagneri | Boh | Costa Rica [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Col Deyrolle | Boh: Type [hw by Baly on underside of preceding label]’ ( BMNH).

Coptocycla tripartita : HOLOTYPE: pinned (right antenna partly broken): ‘ Chontales, | Nicaragua. | Janson. [w, p, cb] || Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || Sp. figured.[w, p, cb] || Godman-Salvin | Coll., Biol. | Centr.-Amer.[w, p, cb] || Coptocycla | tripartita, | ♂ type Ch [w, hw by Champion, cb]’ ( BMNH).

Remarks. As I mentioned under O. postica , species of Orexita are extremely variable regarding dorsal pattern and O. wagneri is another case where individual colour morphs were described as distinct species.

BOHEMAN (1862) described Coptocycla wagneri presumably based on a single specimen with mostly yellow colouration and disc of elytra with irregular and coalescent black patches (see Fig. 1 in CHAMPION 1894). WAGENER (1881) described Coptocycla nigropunctata having black dorsum with partly pale pronotum and elytra in basal two thirds with blood red (see Fig. 2 in CHAMPION 1894). CHAMPION (1894) described Coptocycla tripartita and separated it from the two previously mentioned taxa by different colouration (see Fig. 3 in CHAMPION 1894). He also added that all three taxa have similar punctation of elytra formed by quite large and sparsely arranged punctures also extending on the explanate margin of elytra. CHAMPION (1894) stated that C. tripartita stands nearest to Coptocycla speculata Boheman, 1862 from the Amazon Basin due to similar habitus and colouration. SPAETH (1911) transferred all abovementioned taxa to Orexita , synonymized O. nigropunctata with O. wagneri , mentioned that O. tripartita and O. speculata are unknown to him, and described O. plagipennis Spaeth, 1911 from Colombia and placed it in the same group as O. wagneri .

During my visits in various museums I had an opportunity to examine types of all abovemetioned taxa and I am reasonably certain that at least the three Central American taxa ( O. wagneri , C. nigropunctata and C. tripartita ) are conspecific as I was unable to find any relevant morphological characters to separate them besides colouration and I thus synonymize C. tripartita with C. wagneri and confirm the synonymy of C. nigropunctata . Furthermore, I treat O. speculata as a valid species differing from O. wagneri by the stouter body and large size but as I mentioned under O. speculata , future studies may demonstrate that all of them belong to a single, broadly distributed polymorphic species.

Distribution. Costa Rica ( BOHEMAN 1862, BOROWIEC 2009c), French Guyana ( BOROWIEC & MORAGUES 2005), Nicaragua ( CHAMPION 1894), Panama ( CHAMPION 1894, BOROWIEC 2009c), Venezuela ( BOROWIEC 2002).

Figures

Figs 1–3. Charidotis amazona sp. nov., holotype 1 – dorsal aspect; 2 – lateral aspect; 3 – head, antennae, and fore legs.