Calligrapha simillima Stål, 1860

Gómez-Zurita, Jesús, 2015, Systematic revision of the genus Calligrapha Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Chrysomelinae) in Central America: The group of Calligrapha argus Stål, Zootaxa 3922 (1), pp. 1-71 : 60-62

Calligrapha simillima Stål, 1860

Stål, C. 1860: 462.

( Figs 12 e, 13a, 13d, 15)

Chrysomela simillima: Stål, 1865 , Mon. Chrys. Amer., 3, p. 274.

Calligrapha simillima: Gemminger & Harold, 1874 , Cat. Col., XI, p. 3434. Polyspila simillima: Weise, 1916 , Col. Cat., pars 68, 12, p. 43.

Calligrapha simillima: Blackwelder, 1946 , Checklist Col., Pt. 4, p. 674.

Calligrapha simillima: Bechyné & Springlová de Bechyné, 1965, Rev. Fac. Agron. Maracay 3, p. 51. Calligrapha simillima: Bechyné, 1997 , Bol. Entom. Venez., Mon., 1, p. 281.

Holotype: Type Stål Coll: Deyrolle / Baly Coll. / simillima Stål Venezuela, Caraccas [underneath: Type Stål Col: Deyrolle] (NHM). The specimen lacks six and two apical antennal segments of left and right antennae, respectively.

Habitus ( Fig. 12 e). Length: 9.79 mm, width: 5.89 mm. Body elongated oval, convex. Head, labrum, mandibles, pronotum and margin of scutellum very dark reddish brown to blackish, with slight bronzy metallic reflection; scutellum, elytral markings, fine margin of elytra, epipleura, ventral surfaces and legs with slightly paler reddish shade and very faint metallic reflection; sides of labrum, antennae and mouth pieces brownish orange; pale areas of elytra creamy yellow.

Head large, deeply inserted in pronotum, very finely microreticulate, densely and rather strongly punctured on clypeus, epistome and behind eyes, with scattered punctures on frons; slightly depressed at junction of frontal suture (more impressed anteriorly) with broadly V-shaped clypeal suture; supraocular furrow deeply impressed, running a short distance behind upper eye margin. Antennae relatively short, reaching humeri; first antennomere relatively long and thick, straight at posterior border, convex at anterior border, narrow basally; antennomeres 2–5 elongated, thin, relatively smooth and almost glabrous; second antennomere shortest, about half as long as first, third as long as first; antennomeres 3–5 shortening progressively, sixth clearly longer than second; segments progressively longer beyond fifth antennomere; seventh and following antennomeres thicker, widening from base to apex; beyond eighth rugose and pubescent; eighth antennomere 0.71x as wide as long. Labrum short, small, feebly emarginate anteriorly. Mandibles large, robust, surface strongly punctured, with punctures bearing pale yellow long setae; margins subparallel, weakly concave basally. Last maxillary palpomere rather elongated, enlarged apically, weakly convex, sides parallel at apical 1/3, curved to narrower basal end; previous palpomere slightly broader apically than base of last segment and considerably narrower basally, with regularly curved exernal margin and shorter, strongly bent interior margin. Pronotum transverse (W/L=1.83), with sides subparallel in basal half, regularly and gradually converging to moderately protruding anterior angles apically, finely margined; anterior border slightly produced forward medially, convex, finely margined; basal border regularly convex, unmargined; surface microreticulate, with rather densely irregularly scattered moderately strong and deep punctures, becoming stronger and confluent at sides; strong elongated punctures on basal border laterally, confluent with margin. Hypomeral suture deeply impressed, basally curved to form angular margin of hypomera, slightly gradually diverging from lateral border of pronotum towards anterior angle; hypomera very finely microreticulate, unpunctured, with few transversal wrinkles basally. Prosternum relatively long, concave and margined anteriorly, very finely microreticulate, with few moderately strong punctures bearing fine whitish setae; process convex, margined and punctured at sides, gradually slightly widening towards weakly convex apex, slightly surpassing procoxae posteriorly. Mesanepisterna microreticulate, with sparse, moderately strong punctures.

Metepisterna microreticulate, with strong, dense, sometimes confluent punctation. Metaventrite finely microsculptured, with dense moderately strong punctures at anterior angles, much finer and sparser on posterior half; transversally furrowed and deeply punctured at metacoxal border. Scutellum small, short (W/L=0.97), subtriangular with blunt pointed apex; finely microsculptured, unpunctured. Elytra smooth, very finely sparsely punctured with dot-like punctures with dark background; premarginal line of dense, slightly stronger punctures from humerus to nearly sutural apical angle; larger and deeper punctures surrounding and within dark markings; scutellar row present. Markings as follows: (i) sutural stripe broadly surrounding scutellum basally, narrowing gradually preapically before reaching apex of elytra as thin stripe; (ii) subsutural stripe broad, entirely confluent with sutural stripe from near base of elytra; (iii) arcuate band nearly straight, very faintly concave externally and completely confluent laterally with subsutural stripe; apical end enlarged as slightly divergent big rounded spot; stripe emiting dark suffusions laterally at apical half; (iv) humeral spot and humeral lunule completely fused as a large shoulder spot, elongated, with apical 1/3 slightly narrower and bent towards suture, ending slightly behind and near base of arcuate band; separated basally from basal margin of elytra; (v) spot enclosed by humeral lunule large, roundish and laterally confluent externally with concavity of humeral lunule; (vi) spot of apical declivity large, broadly elliptic, laterally confluent with subsutural stripe; (vii) apical spot roundish, slightly transverse; (viii) eight additional spots on disc; six forming triangle with base parallel to elytral margin and vertex at and narrowly confluent with weak concavity of arcuate band, two spots in the middle round and smaller, and three spots at marginal line increasingly larger towards apex (last spot large, irregularly shaped, broken in smaller spots); two additional roundish medium sized spots slightly obliquely arranged on apical declivity of elytra. Femora smooth, sparsely punctured, with fine whitish setae. Tibiae slender, subcylindrical, weakly carinated at interior angles, with apex slightly rugose covered by long dense pale yellowish setae; gradually expanded furrow from midlength towards apical emargination of tibiae. First abdominal ventrite strongly margined anteriorly, with dense, strong elongated and deep punctures confluent with margin, strong punctures at sides, and scattered, finer punctures elsewhere; other ventrites with denser smaller punctation basally and at sides; sides slightly raised internally to lateral fovea. Penis figured in Figs 13 a, 13d.

Distribution ( Fig. 15 , white circles). This species is scarcely present in entomological collections. Most of the specimens I found are from Mexico, but a couple of records can be attributed with certain confidence to Guatemala and Honduras. Records from the USA derive from intercepted fruit from Central America in Texas, or specimens of dubious identification. Considering that the type is labelled as originating from Venezuela, the highly scattered distribution for this species would be highly unusual for the genus. Alternatively, it could be that the species is not frequent, simply rare in entomological collections, or admitedly affected by a problematic taxonomy.

Material examined (16 specimens).

GUATEMALA

EGRC: (1) one specimen: Guatemala, Guatemala City, Las Hamacas T.P., 23.vii.1979, D.B. Thomas & E.P. Case.

HONDURAS

NMNH: (1) one specimen: on banana debris from Honduras, Apr. 29, 1935, Charleston, #5530, Gay, Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011.

MEXICO

EGRC: (1) one specimen: Mexico, Chiapas, Chorreadero Cyn., 5 mi E Chiapa de Corzo, 15.vi.1986, D. Thomas, Calligrapha multipustulata Stal det. Daccordi ’90, Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011; (2) one specimen: Mexico, Hidalgo, 4 mi SW Chapulhucan, 25.v.1979, E.G. Riley, Calligrapha suffriani St. det. Daccordi ’81, Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011; (3) one specimen: Mexico, Yucatán, Chichén- Itzá, 10.viii.1990, D.A. Rider, Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011. NMB: (1) three specimens: Chitzen Itza, Yucatan, Mex., G. Frey, x.58, Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2010. ZSM: (1) one specimen: Mexico, Guadalajara, Juni 1982, leg. Fittkau.

NICARAGUA

IBE-JGZ: (1) one specimen: IBE-JGZ-C230, Nicaragua, Matagalpa, Selva Negra, Mayo 2010, J.-M. Maes leg.

USA

MCZ: (1) one specimen: Tex., F.A. Eddy Collection5. NHM: (1) one specimen: Baly Coll., Calligrapha geographica? Ch. , Texas, Pilate.

UNKNOWN SOURCE

NMB: (1) one specimen: Encantado, M., 8.x.50, Racenis l., R: 331. NMNH: (1) one specimen: banana trash from Hond. or Pan., Mar. 2 ’36, No. 16262, [male], Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2009; (2) one specimen: F. Monrós Collection 1959, Calligrapha geographica Stal F. Monrós det. 1957, Calligrapha simillima Stål J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2011.

Variation. The additional markings on disc can show different confluence patterns as compared with type, e.g. the interior vertex of triangle of spots not confluent with arcuate band.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Dorsal and lateral habitus of the Lectotype of Calligrapha aeneopicta Stål (a), Neotype of C. elegantula Jacoby (b), Lectotype of C. sylvia Stål (c), Lectotype of C. diversa Stål (d), and Holotype of C. simillima Stål (e). Scale bar = 5.0 mm.

FIGURE 13. Penis in ventral, lateral and dorsal view of apex of the species Calligrapha simillima Stål (a, d), C. sylvia Stål (b, e), C. diversa Stål (c, f), C. aeneopicta Stål (g, h), and C. elegantula Jacoby (i, j). Scale bar = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 15. Geographic distributions of Calligrapha aeneopicta Stål (black circles) and C. simillima Stål (white circles).