Chelymorpha cruxnigra Boheman, 1862

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 322

Chelymorpha cruxnigra Boheman, 1862 stat. restit.

Chelymorpha crux-nigra Boheman, 1862: 218 (original description).

Type locality. ‘Mexico’.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♀, pinned, ‘Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || E. Coll | Chevt. [w, p, cb] || cruxnigra | Chev amiat | D turaté [w, hw, s] || 67·56 [w, p, s]’ ( BMNH).

Remarks. SPAETH (1909a) considered Chelymorpha cruxnigra as a variety of Ogdoecosta juvenca ( Boheman, 1854) and since then it was considered a synonym of the latter species (see BOROWIEC 1999a). Spaeth did so probably based on the primary description as BOHEMAN (1862) compared C. cruxnigra to O. juvenca . Boheman attributed the description of C. cruxnigra to Chevrolat and mentioned his collection also as the type depository. Based on the description I assume that there was only a single specimen of this species used for its description. The holotype of C. cruxnigra certainly belongs to Chelymorpha as it has venter of pronotum with antennal grooves along head externally bordered by a sharp carina. Therefore I remove this taxon from synonymy of O. juvenca and restore its species status in Chelymorpha .

It is questionable whether the type locality is correct because so far it is the only specimen of such appearance from Mexico and other species occurring there belong to completely different species-groups, with the exception of Chelymorpha calva Boheman, 1854 , another enigmatic taxon. Chelymorpha cruxnigra looks very similar to some forms of C. multipunctata (Olivier, 1791) and might be synonymous with the latter. However, for now I keep it as valid species because the genus Chelymorpha requires a complex revision based on comparative study of female genitalia and molecular data, as these two characters seem to be the only methods to separate numerous specimens of polymorphic complexes of similarly looking species.

Distribution. Mexico ( BOHEMAN 1862).