Plagiodera sublaevis CHEN , 1934

Eva Sprecher- Uebersax & Mauro Daccordi, 2016, Notes on the species of Plagiodera CHEVROLAT, 1836 of the Australian, Oceanic and Oriental regions, with a description of P. hiekei n. sp. (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), Entomologische Blätter und Coleoptera 112 (1), pp. 373-385 : 376

Remarks on Plagiodera sublaevis CHEN, 1934

P. sublaevis belongs to the species group characterized by a “fibula” shaped spermatheca and large eyes. The male type specimen, conserved in ZMHU, is not labelled “ sublaevis ” but “ laevipennis ”. The handwriting on the label of the specimen is that of S.H. CHEN, and the locality label says “Sawai”, which is the locality mentioned in the original description of the species. Last but not least the description made by CHEN corresponds perfectly to this specimen. Thus, we suggest that CHEN had a change of mind concerning the name of the new species, but did not change the label on the type specimen from “ laevipennis ” to “ sublaevis ”. This specimen has the eyes very large and very close together on the frons. Fig. 63 shows the median lobe of the aedeagus. The coloration is Chrome orange on the head and thorax, while the elytra and the ventral parts are ferrugineous with darker shading at the sides. The elytral punctures are very fine and scarce. The examined specimen identical is in all characters to P. samoana MAULIK, 1929. The type series of P. samoana is deposited in BMNH and has been studied by one of the authors (M.D.). Thus we propose a new synonymy:

Plagiodera sublaevis CHEN, 1934 = P. samoana MAULIK, 1929 n. syn.