Ochraethes obliquus (Chevrolat, 1860)

Clytus (Ochroesthes) obliquus Chevrolat, 1860: 473 .

Ochresthes zebratus Bates, 1885: 298, syn. nov.

Ochraestes obliquus – Thomson 1861: 219.

Ochrestes obliquus – Lacordaire 1869: 66.

Ochresthes obliquus – Bates 1880: 51; 1885: 296 (distr.).

Ochraethes obliquus – Aurivillius 1912: 386 (cat.). — Linsley 1935: 86 (distr.). — Monné 1993: 19 (cat.); 2005: 107 (cat.); 2021: 146 (cat.). — Monné & Giesbert 1994: 116 (cat.). — Turnbow et al. 2003: 15 (distr.). — Monné & Hovore 2006: 46 (cat.). — García-Morales et al. 2014: 100 (distr.). — Noguera & Gutiérrez 2016: 657 (distr.). — Bezark 2019: 405 (distr.); 2021: 73 (checklist). — Pérez-Flores et al. 2021: 466 (checklist).

Ochraethes zebratus – Aurivillius 1912: 386 (cat.). — Monné 1993: 20 (cat.); 2005: 109 (cat.); 2021: 148 (cat.). — Monné & Giesbert 1994: 116 (cat.). — Monné & Hovore 2006: 46 (cat.). — Hovore 2006: 373 (distr.). — Pérez-Flores et al. 2021: 466 (checklist). — Bezark 2021: 74 (checklist);.

Ochraethes obliqua – Blackwelder 1946: 581 (cat.). — Chemsak et al. 1992: 69 (cat.). — Noguera & Chemsak 1996: 401 (cat.).

Ochraethes zebrata – Blackwelder 1946: 581 (cat.). — Chemsak et al. 1992: 70 (cat.).

In the original description, Chevrolat (1860) described Ochraethes obliquus as the large species with one of the most important characters that differentiated it from related species (“... Corselet un peu plus long que large, arrondi, assez largement étranglé à la base, droit aux extrémités [the prothorax extremely constricted at base] …”) and five black pubescent bands. The type specimen has the pubescence paler than other specimens and the last black pubescent band (sixth) is poorly evident (drawing by Bates). Bates (1885) described O. zebratus from Cobán, Guatemala, from only one female specimen. He mentioned seven narrow, slightly diagonal (oblique) bandages (brown or black transversal pubescent bands) on elytra and described the elytral apex as obliquely truncate. However, all speciemens revised and type material only have six evident pubescent bands in the same arrangement as O. obliquus, but narrower. The pubescence in these specimens conforms to the brighter variation of O. obliquus with the southernmost distribution. The frons is another character that is equal in both (sub-quadrate) (Fig. 4E– F). Accordingly, we consider O. zebratus as a junior synonym of O. obliquus .