Phratora daccordii Ge and Wang

Ge, Si-Qin, Yang, Xing-Ke, Wang, Shu-Yong, Li, Wen-Zhu & Cui, Jun-Zhi, 2004, Two New Species of Phratora Chevrolat from China (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 58 (1), pp. 133-137 : 133

Phratora daccordii Ge and Wang new species and P. jinchuanensis Ge and Wang new

species from Sichuan province, south-west China ( Chrysomelidae : Chrysomelinae) are described. The distinctive characters of these new species in relation to others are discussed. Phratora daccordi resembles P. moha Daccordi most closely but is distinguished by the morphology of the antennae, the shape of lateral margins of pronotum, median lobe and spermatheca. Phratora jinchuanensis is allied to P. vulgitissima (Linnaeus) , differing in the marginal bead along the pronotal base, median lobe morphology and bristles of the antennae. Illustrations of the habitus of P. daccordi , and median lobes and spermathecae of the new species are included. Type specimens are deposited in the Zoological Museum, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

The genus Phratora was established by Chevrolat (1837), but later in the same year, Phyllodecta was described synonymously by Kirby. Until the 1860s, the name Phratora was regarded as valid by Dejean. Weise (1884) divided the genus into two subgenera: Chaetocera and Phyllodecta . The main difference is that Cheatocera (¼ Phratora s. str.) has a marginal bead and Phyllodecta lacks a marginal bead along the base of the pronotum. However, we found that this character varies even in the same species. For example, P. bicolor possesses a marginal bead along the base of pronotum generally, but in some individuals, it is present only in the middle of the basal margin of the pronotum. On the other hand, P. laticollis lacks a marginal bead along the base of pronotum generally, but in some individuals it possesses a narrow marginal bead in the middle of the basal margin of the pronotum. Later, several important works have dealt with Chinese species of Phratora , including Chen 1965; Daccordi 1977; Gressitt and Kimoto 1963; Maulik 1926; Wang 1992; Yu et al. 1996.

The species of Phratora are most similar to those of Gonioctena but differ in having the tarsi bilobed, epipleuron flat, and outer surface of tibiae not toothed. They may be distinguished from those of Paropsides by the appendiculate claws. In this paper, we do not follow Weise’s system, and do not divide the genus into subgenera. Our systematic research on Chinese species of Phratora , has documented the two new species described herein. Type specimens are deposited in the Zoological Museum, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. R. China.

Species of Phratora are distributed in both the Holarctic and the Oriental Regions. Species in the Oriental Region are distributed mainly in altiplano and mountain regions. The host plants of all species are Salicacea. Interestingly, the hindwings are absent in some alpine species. After checking most Chinese species of this genus, we found that if the altitudinal distribution of the species exceeds 2,500 m, the hindwings are absent. Thus, flightlessness of Phratora is correlated with altitude.

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