Cassida nigriventris Boheman, 1854

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 284-285

Cassida nigriventris Boheman, 1854

Cassida nigriventris Boheman, 1854: 410 (original description).

Coptocycla mundula Boheman, 1862: 452 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Cassida nigriventris : ‘Thibet’; Coptocycla mundula : ‘Ega prope fluvium Amazonum’ [original type locality, sic!], ‘ Malacca and Singapore’ [corrected according to the BMNH register, however doubtful].

Type material examined. Cassida nigriventris : HOLOTYPE: pinned (missing head and pronotum kept in a separate vial): ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || E. Coll. | Chevt. [w, p, cb] || Cassida . [p] | nigriventris | Type Bohem. [w, hw by Maulik, cb] || Cassida | nigriventris | Chevt Thibet [w, hw by Chevrolat, s] || 67·56 [w, p, s]’ ( BMNH).

: SYNTYPES: 1 spec., pinned, ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || 55 | 26 [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Ega [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || Coptocycla | mundula | Boh | Ega [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Boh | Type | 20 [hw by Baly on the verso of the previous label]’ ( BMNH); 1 spec., pinned, ‘55 | 26 [w, hw, s, circle label] || Ega [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || C. mundula | Bhn. [w, hw by Gahan, cb] || = Cassida | nigriventris | Bhn | CJGahan [w, hw by Gahan, cb]’ ( BMNH).

Remarks. BOHEMAN (1862) described Coptocycla mundula from the collection of J. S. Baly and gave Ega, nowadays Tefé in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, as the type locality. Since its description it remained enigmatic taxon to subsequent authors and the taxon was only listed in catalogues (see BOROWIEC 1999a). Boheman did not state how many specimens he had at his disposal. There are two specimens from the collection of J. S. Baly, both agreeing with the primary description, provided with the same register number and mounted in the same style, which I consider syntypes. It is possible that the specimens were originally provided only with a number referring to the register of BMNH collections and it is unknown why Baly considered them as from Ega. According to the register these specimens were collected by A. R. Wallace in Malacca and Singapore (M. Barclay, pers. comm.). The second syntype is provided with an additional label by C. J. Gahan, former keeper of the BMNH entomology collections, who noticed that this taxon is conspecific with Cassida nigriventris , but never published the synonymy. BOHEMAN (1854) described C. nigriventris presumably from a single specimen as he gave a single length measurement, stated only collection of Chevrolat as depository and did not keep any specimen. The holotype is housed at the BMNH and presently has its pronotum and head broken off and stored in a separate vial pinned next to the specimen. Syntypes of C. mundula are identical to the holotype of C. nigriventris and I consider C. mundula a junior subjective synonym of the latter species.

As mentioned above, the original type locality of C. mundula given by Boheman and written by Baly on his identification label is erroneous and is here replaced by data from the BMNH register. However, it is still uncertain that these specimens were indeed collected either in Singapore or peninsular Malaysia, as there is no other material of this species from this region. Cassida nigriventris is a common species of the Himalayan foothills extending from Pakistan to mountains of northern Thailand and Vietnam.

Distribution. Bhutan, China (Guangxi, Yunnan, Xizang), N India, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam ( BOROWIEC & ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA 2016).