Elytrogona bulla Boheman, 1862

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 328-329

Elytrogona bulla Boheman, 1862

Elytrogona Bulla Boheman, 1862: 193 (original description).

Elytrogona gemmata Blake, 1930: 222 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Elytrogona bulla : not given, corrected here to ‘St. Domingo’; E. gemmata : ‘Haiti’.

Type material examined. Elytrogona bulla : SYNTYPES: 1 spec., pinned (missing left antenna), ‘ Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || St. Domingo [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || Elytrogona | Bulla | Boh | St Domingo [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Type | 31 [hw by Baly on verso of the preceding label]’ ( BMNH) ; 1 spec., pinned (left antenna partly broken; abdomen and metaventrite placed in vial pinned under the specimen but not including genitalia), ‘ St. Domingo [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || St. Domingo [pi, hw, s; glued on white card] || Elytrogona gemmata | Blake 1930 | Det. CS Chaboo 1999 [w, p, cb, bf]’ ( BMNH) .

Elytrogona gemmata : HOLOTYPE: pinned, ‘ Haiti 1920 | EC Leonard [w, p, cb] || Type No. | 43119 [hw] | U.S.N.M. [r, p, cb] || Elytrogona | n. sp. [w, hw, cb] || Elytrogona | gemmata | Blake [w, hw, cb]’ ( USNM).

Remarks. BOHEMAN (1862) described Elytrogona bulla based on material sent to him by J. S. Baly. There are two specimens in BMNH coming from the collection of Baly, both agreeing with the primary description and I consider them as syntypes. This opinion is shared with Sharon Shute (former curator at BMNH) as she handwrote an additional label pinned next to the two specimens specifying that one syntype was sent on loan to C. Chaboo and dissected by her, but returned under a different name. CHABOO (2000) synonymized Stoiba decemmaculata Blake, 1930 with E. bulla based on speculation without examining type material of the latter taxon. However, the two taxa are completely different which is also obvious from the primary description (see further notes under Convexocoleus decemmaculatus ). Chaboo did not realize that she loaned the actual syntype of E. bulla and listed it among additional examined specimens of E. gemmata .

I have studied types of the two latter taxa and they have identical shape of body and punctation of elytra. The only difference is smaller size of spots on elytra in E. bulla but their position is exactly the same in both taxa. Hence I synonymize E. gemmata with E. bulla .

BOHEMAN (1862) did not provide the type locality for E. bulla which is quite strange as Baly wrote ‘St. Domingo’ on the label under the specimen. On the other hand Baly sent specimens to Boheman only with numbers and wrote details in the accompanying letter and probably omitted to mention the locality information for this species. Therefore the type locality is here corrected to ‘St. Domingo’ and might refer either to the whole of Hispaniola or the Dominican Republic.

Distribution. Dominican Republic and Haiti ( CHABOO 2000).