Asteriza tortuguilla ( Zayas, 1989 ) Sekerka, 2016

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 310

Asteriza tortuguilla ( Zayas, 1989) comb. nov.

Plagiometriona tortuguilla Zayas, 1989: 148 (original description).

Type locality. Cuba, Guantánamo Province, Tortuguilla.

Remarks. ZAYAS (1989) described this species based on series of 17 specimens and placed it in the genus Plagiometriona Spaeth, 1899 without any additional comment supporting the placement. He also provided a figure, which does not look like any of the Plagiometriona species. The collection of Zayas is in possession of his family and is currently inaccessible. Mike Ivie (Bozman, Montana, USA) was able to examine the collection and kindly provided a photograph of the holotype of P. tortuguilla . Based on the photograph and the primary description I hereby transfer the species to the genus Asteriza .

ZAYAS (1989) reported Rochfortia steliata Bon [sic!; = Rochefortia stellata Britton & P.Wilson ] belonging to the family Boraginaceae as host plant of P. tortuguilla . SEKERKA & WINDSOR (2012) summarized host plants of Plagiometriona and doubted that the record is valid assuming that P. tortuguilla truly belong to this genus as Plagiometriona is exclusively associated with various Solanaceae . The present transfer of P. tortuguilla is supported by the feeding association with Boraginaceae as recently the same plant family was reported as host of Asteriza flavicornis (Olivier, 1791) ( ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA & WINDSOR 2008) .

Distribution. Cuba: Guantánamo ( ZAYAS 1989).