Plagiometriona zelleri ( Boheman, 1855 )

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 299

Plagiometriona zelleri ( Boheman, 1855)

Coptocycla Zelleri Boheman, 1855: 247 (original description).

Coptocycla glyphica Boheman, 1855: 250 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Coptocycla glyphica : ‘Havana’ [sic!]; C. zelleri : ‘Columbia’.

Type material examined. Coptocycla glyphica : HOLOTYPE: ♂ , pinned (missing both antennae), ‘E. Coll. | Chevt. [w, p, cb] || Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || 104 [g, hw, s] || Havana | coll. [illegible] || Coptocyc | glyphica | Bhn | Havana [w, hw by Chevrolat, s] || 67·56 [w, p, s]’ ( BMNH).

Coptocycla zelleri : LECTOTYPE (designated by BOROWIEC 1999a): pinned, ‘Colum- | bia [w, p, cb] || Buquet [w, hw, s] || Type. [w, p, s] || LECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, p, cb] || NHRS-JLKB | 000022603 [w, p, cb]’ ( NHRS) . PARALECTOTYPE: pinned, ‘ Colum- | bia [w, p, cb] || Buquet [w, hw, s] || PARALECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, p, cb] || NHRS-JLKB | 000022604 [w, p, cb]’ ( NHRS).

Remarks. SPAETH (1937) pointed that the type locality of Plagiometriona glyphica is erroneous and that the species in fact occurs in Colombia and Bolivia. He stated that it is very close to Plagiometriona zelleri but differs in the broader and less rounded pronotum, antennomere XI yellow at most on black apex (in P. zelleri are antennomeres X–XI uniformly black), and largely black ultimate interval on elytra (mostly yellow in P. zelleri ).

The holotype of P. glyphica is nearly identical to the lectotype of P. zelleri and differs only by having an additional yellow spot on the lateral slope of elytra around their midlength. The pattern and body shape are otherwise the same. The colouration of ultimate interval varies from largely yellow to almost completely black, but the black colour is extending to at least around its midlength. Unfortunately, nothing can be said about colouration of antennae in P. glyphica as both are broken off from the second antennomere and the same condition was mentioned in the original description. However, in my opinion these two taxa are conspecific and since both names were proposed in the same publication I followed the Principle of the first reviser ( ICZN 1999: Article 24.2) and chose P. zelleri as the valid name because it has better preserved type specimen and was correctly applied until recently.

I have not seen most of the material SPAETH (1937) assigned to P. glyphica apart from a single specimen from Nova Granada deposited in BMNH. This specimen perfectly agrees with types of both taxa and bears Spaethʼs identification label as P. zelleri . There are two possibilities: Spaeth had in his collection a different but similar species misidentified as P. glyphica , or all characters he used to separate the two taxa are the result of intraspecific variability. The distribution is given according to data published for P. zelleri as well as P. glyphica , but the latter are denoted with questionmark as I did not verify their identity.

Distribution.? Bolivia: Songo; Colombia: Boyacá, Cundinamarca,? Tolima ( SPAETH 1937).