Charidotis subrugosa ( Boheman, 1855 )

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 292-293

Charidotis subrugosa ( Boheman, 1855)

Coptocycla subrugosa Boheman, 1855: 331 (original description).

Charidotis pumicosa Boheman, 1862: 374 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Charidotis pumicosa : ‘Brasilia’; Coptocycla subrugosa : ‘Brasilia’.

Type material examined. Charidotis pumicosa : LECTOTYPE (here designated): pinned: ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || Brazil [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || Charidotis | pumicosa | Boh | Brazil [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Type | Boh | 110 [hw by Baly on underside of the preceding label]’ ( BMNH).

Coptocycla subrugosa : LECTOTYPE (designated by BOROWIEC 1999a): pinned: ‘29663 [w, p, s] || subrugosa..Bhn. | Brasil [w, hw by Boheman, s] || Type [red, p, cb] || LECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [red, p, cb]’ ( ZMHB).

Remarks. BOHEMAN (1862) described Charidotis pumicosa based on an unknown number of specimens sent to him by J. S. Baly. SPAETH (1926) transferred it to Ctenochira Chapuis, 1875 (= Microctenochira Spaeth, 1926 ) without any comment. BOROWIEC (1999a) stated that he examined syntype deposited in the Manchester Museum (coll. F. Spaeth).

BOHEMAN (1862) did not denote C. pumicosa by an asterisk, which suggests he did not retain any specimen from Baly but most likely had only a single specimen at hand when describing this species. Another possibility is that Baly sent him a single specimen and the others were discussed in correspondence but should be still included in the type series. I did not examine the specimen deposited in the Manchester Museum and thus cannot confirm whether it belongs to the type series or not. Nevertheless, the BMNH specimen fully agrees with the primary description and undoubtedly belongs to the type series and is designated here as a lectotype, in order to amend taxon name for the purpose of synonymy.

The BMNH specimen clearly belongs to Charidotis Boheman, 1854 as it has micropectinate tarsal claws (species of Microctenochira have a long pecten) and the third antennomere is much shorter than second. Charidotis pumicosa is quite distinct due to its infrequent combination of morphological features for Charidotis : uniformly yellow dorsum, very coarsely punctate elytra and antennomeres IV and V shorter than VI. Using the SPAETHʼs (1936) key the taxon falls to C. subrugosa (thesis 187). Punctation of elytra is in both taxa similarly coarse, only C. subrugosa has slightly more elevated interspaces among punctures than C. pumicosa , providing the surface of its elytra with a more irregular appearance. I have compared types of both taxa and consider this as a minor difference subject to intraspecific variability as other principal morphological features such as the size and the shape of body, the shape of clypeus, and the proportion of antennomeres are identical in both taxa and hence I synonymize C. pumicosa with C. subrugosa .

SPAETH (1936) mentioned ‘Ost-Brasilien (Mucury)’ as distribution of C. subrugosa . The locality refers most likely to the city of Mucuri situated in the delta of Rio Mucuri in southernmost tip of the state of Bahia.

Distribution. Brazil: Bahia ( SPAETH 1936).