Plateumaris consimilis (Schrank, 1781)

Geiser, Elisabeth, 2023, Revision of the Palaearctic species of the genus Plateumaris C. G. Thomson, 1859 (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae), ZooKeys 1177, pp. 167-233 : 167

Plateumaris consimilis (Schrank, 1781)

Fig. 5

Leptura consimilis Schrank, 1781: 155.

Plateumaris consimilis f. aerea Bechyné, 1942: 234, 236 [infrasubspecific name].

Leptura assimilis Schrank, 1781: 156.

Plateumaris consimilis f. coerulea Bechyné, 1942: 234, 236 [infrasubspecific name].

Donacia discolor Hoppe, 1795: 45 [homonym].

Plateumaris consimilis f. flavipes Bechyné, 1942: 234, 236 [infrasubspecific name].

Plateumaris consimilis f. nigripes Bechyné, 1942: 234, 236 [infrasubspecific name].

Donacia rufipes Olivier, 1791: 292.

Plateumaris tenuicornis Balthasar, 1934: 128 [syn. nov.].

Donacia variabilis Kunze, 1818: 39.

Plateumaris consimilis f. violacea Bechyné, 1942: 234, 236 [infrasubspecific name].

Plateumaris consimilis f. viridis Bechyné, 1942: 234, 236 [infrasubspecific name].

Type locality.

Plateumaris consimilis : unknown, but possibly in Austria (the country in 1781 was much larger than today) because the original description is in a book titled 'Enumeratio insectorum Austriae indigenorum’.

Type material.

Holotype or type series of P. consimilis unknown.

Taxonomic history and synonymies.

Bechyne (1942) detailed statistics about the different colours and subtle structures on the pronotum of P. consimilis , but without convincing results. He named colour variations as “forma” but conceded that there also existed combinations of colours in between. These names are indicated above for the sake of completeness, but they are irrelevant to systematics.

Schrank de Paula (1781: 155) described Leptura consimilis with bronze and black-golden colouration. On the next page of this publication, he described a new species Leptura assimilis . The difference from the former species is indicated as “black” and the elytra with nine rows of punctures in contrast to those of P. consimilis which he described with ten rows of punctures [both species have elytra with 11 rows of punctures]. In that pioneer period, this species common in central Europe was also described as Donacia rufipes by Olivier (1791), Donacia discolor by Hoppe (1795), and Donacia variabilis by Kunze (1818), who already mentioned the great variability of this species by its specific name.

Donacia discolor was described by Hoppe (1795). According to Bousquet (2016) this was published on [30] April 1795, but a description of a Donacia discolor had been already published by Panzer on 14 February 1795 ( Bousquet 2016). Therefore, Donacia discolor Hoppe was immediately a homonym. Later, both species were assigned to Plateumaris , therefore D. discolor Hoppe remained a homonym.

Plateumaris consimilis orientalis was described by Shavrov (1948) (see Geiser and Geiser 2023), which he thought to represent a subspecies of P. consimilis , but it resulted in being synonymous with P. weisei (see at P. weisei below for further explanation).

Diagnosis.

Pronotum cordate, anterior tubercles slightly convex. Upper side with metallic lustre in varying colours, antennae, and legs at least partly reddish brown. Elytra 1.5-1.8 × longer than wide.

Description.

Size: 6.0-9.2 mm.

Colour: Very variable, upper side greenish, bluish, cupreous, bronze, or black with metallic lustre, some black specimens almost without metallic lustre (Fig. 5A, B ).

Head: Same colour as pronotum. Antennae approximately half the body length or slightly longer, Antennomeres reddish brown at least at the basal part, the apical part can be darkened. ½ A1 ≥ A2, ½ A3 ≥ A2, A4 ≥ A3, A1 ≈ A4, A5 … A11 ≈ A4.

Pronotum: cordate, ahead wider than behind, anterior tubercles only slightly convex, disc uniformly punctate, median line obsolete to fine but distinct.

Elytra: 1.5-1.8 × longer than wide, never twice as long as wide, side contours slightly convex, not parallel, elytra rugose and punctulate.

Legs: Colour variation from completely reddish brown to only reddish at the joints, femora basally very broad, metafemora with sharp or broad tooth.

Aedeagus: The shape varies between the short, more rounded form in P. bracata and the elongated acute form of P. rustica (Fig. 5C, D ).

The most similar species are Plateumaris bracata and P. rustica : P. bracata has longer elytra, ~ 2 × as long as wide and the side contour of the elytra is parallel, not convex (Fig. 4C ). Plateumaris rustica has the pronotum not cordate, and disk and tubercles flattened (Fig. 10A ). Plateumaris weisei could be mistaken for P. consimilis but their distribution areas hardly overlap.

Biology.

Although P. consimilis is one of the common Plateumaris species, its larva was not described until 2014 by Medvedev and Muravitsky. The larvae and adults feed on Carex sp. ( Cyperaceae ). Also, Juncus articulatus ( Juncaceae ) and Caltha sp. ( Ranunculaceae ) are mentioned as food plants of adults, on which they feed on the pollen ( Rheinheimer and Hassler 2018). Plateumaris consimilis lives in wetlands, fens, near springs, and moor grass meadows. It is more frequent on low calcareous soils, where it is usually the only species of Donaciinae . It is site-loyal and cannot be caught in pitfall traps (with rare exceptions) ( Krause 1982; pers. obs.).

Distribution.

Western Palaearctic: mainly continental Europe up to southern Sweden, very rare in south and east Europe and west Siberia. Records exist for: Europe: Albania [first record], Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein [new in PalCat], Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, North Macedonia [new in PalCat], Poland, Romania, Russia (central part of European Russia), Serbia [new in PalCat], Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.

Asia: Georgia [first record], Russia (west Siberia), Turkey [new in PalCat].

New country records additional to Silfverberg (2010).

Albania [first records] • 3 ex.; Qarku i Kukësit, Kula e Lumës, "Albanien Expedition, Kula Ljums"; 18-28 May 1918; H. Goecke 1956 det., E. Geiser 2019 vid.; NHMB [ex coll. Frey] • 1 ex.; Qarku i Kukësit, Gjallica e Lumës, "Albanien Expedition, Gjalica Ljums"; 17-26 Jun 1918; H. Goecke 1956 det., E. Geiser 2019 vid.; NHMB [ex coll. Frey].

Liechtenstein: Walter (1990).

North Macedonia: Gruev and Tomov (1984).

Serbia: Gavrilovic and Curcic (2011).

Georgia [first record] • 2 ex.; Mtskheta, "Transcaucasia, Mazcheta, pr. Tiblisi"; 4-23 Jun 1987; Wrase and Schülke leg.; E. Geiser 2019 det.; NHMB.

Turkey: Ekiz et al. (2020).

Remarks.

Plateumaris consimilis does not occur in the East Palaearctic which has also been confirmed recently by Hayashi (2020). Records from Far East and Japan, e.g., in Goecke (1960) or Warchałowski (2010), are due to records of " Plateumaris consimilis orientalis Shavrov, 1948" which is synonymous with P. weisei (see below). Note that specimens of P. weisei misidentified as P. consimilis were found in collections (pers. obs.).

Material examined.

More than 200 specimens from different localities throughout the distribution area.

Figures

Figure 4. Plateumaris bracata A habitus B aedeagus (photographs by K. Matsumoto) C elytra D elytra of Plateumaris consimilis (drawings from Mohr 1966 a). Scale bar: one unit - 1 mm.

Figure 5. Plateumaris consimilis: Variability of colours and of the shape of the median lobe A, B habitus C, D median lobe (photographs by K. Matsumoto). Scale bars: one unit - 1 mm.

Figure 10. Plateumaris rustica A habitus B median lobe (photographs by K. Matsumoto). Scale bar: one unit - 1 mm.