Agenysa lacertosa ( Boheman, 1862 ) Sekerka, 2016

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 304

Agenysa lacertosa ( Boheman, 1862) comb. nov.

Mesomphalia lacertosa Boheman, 1862: 164 (original description).

Agenysa crassicornis Spaeth, 1905: 94 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Agenysa crassicornis : ‘ Brasilien, Kolumbien, Ekuador:Archidona, Coca’; Mesomphalia lacertosa : ‘Peruvia’.

Type material. Agenysa crassicornis : SYNTYPES: 1 ♂, pinned, ‘Columbia | Staud. d. [w, hw by Spaeth, cb] || crassicornis | type ♂ m. [w, hw by Spaeth, cb] || TYPE [r, p, cb] || M/CR MUS | SPAETH COLL. [w, p, cb] || Manchester Museum | Syntype [blue, p, cb] ’ ( MMUE); 1 ♀, pinned, ‘ Columbien [w, hw, cb] || Columbia | Staud. d. [w, hw by Spaeth, cb] || crassicornis | type ♀ m. [w, hw by Spaeth, cb] || TYPE [r, p, cb] || M/CR MUS | SPAETH COLL. [w, p, cb] || Manchester Museum | Syntype [blue, p, cb]’ ( MMUE).

Mesomphalia lacertosa : HOLOTYPE: ♂, pinned, ‘ Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || Peru [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || Mesomphalia | lacertosa | Boh | Peru [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Stevens | named by | Boheman | Type [hw by Baly on underside of preceding label] ’ ( BMNH).

Remarks. Mesomphalia lacertosa was unknown to subsequent authors and was listed only in catalogues. Only, SPAETH (1914) transferred it to Pseudomesomphalia Spaeth, 1901 (= Stolas ). I have examined its type and found that it is conspecific with A. crassicornis differing only by the elytra being more black than dark olive green. I therefore synonymize it with the latter species.

SPAETH (1905) differentiated A. crassicornis from other species by the very dark olive green to almost black dorsum and thicker antennae. These characters were followed by VIANA (1968). I have studied numerous additional specimens and it seems that the thicker antennae depend on the size of the specimen. Large specimens of similar species such as A. peruviana Spaeth, 1916 have similarly thick antennae and basically the only character that separates them is mostly black colour. Also, some specimens of A. lacertosa have more or less indicated little red pieces of reticulation on explanate margin of elytra and are quite similar to A. calvata . It is possible that A. calvata , A. lacertosa and A. peruviana are just forms of a single species distributed in the Andes. For the time being I keep them as separate species because this problem requires complex analysis of extensive material combined with molecular data.

Distribution. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador ( SPAETH 1905), and Peru ( BOHEMAN 1862).