Paratrikona lerouxii ( Boheman, 1854 )

Simões, Marianna V. P., 2017, Revision of the Greater Antilles genus Paratrikona Spaeth, 1923 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Dorynotini), Zootaxa 4238 (3), pp. 417-425 : 418

Paratrikona lerouxii ( Boheman, 1854)

( Figs 1–3 )

Batonota lerouxii Boheman, 1854:183 (type locality: ‘Cuba’)

Type Material. Batonota lerouxii , lectotype (unsexed), pinned: ‘ Cuba [hw, sl] || Duquet [hw, sl] || Type [p, sl] || LECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, cb, p, bb]’ ( NRS) . Paralectotype (unsexed), pinned: ‘ Cuba [hw, sl] || Guérin [hw, sl] || PARALECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, cb, p, bb]’ ( NRS) .

Additional material examined (1). HAITI: Pt. au Prince, R.J. Crew (1 specimen, MNHN).

Diagnosis. Paratrikona lerouxii is one of two species in the genus with the elytral disc uniformly opaque yellow, sometimes with a small reddish spot at the top of the postscutellar tubercle. The other species, P. blakeae sp. nov., differs in that the elytra have the anterior angle slightly truncate, exceeding the widest region of the pronotum, lateral margin opaque, coarse and denser punctures on disc and laterally, and hump followed by a convex slope. While P. lerouxii has elytra with the anterior angles rounded, not exceeding the widest region of the pronotum, lateral margin transparent, coarse and moderately punctured on disc and laterally, postscutellar elevation followed by straight slope.

Externally, P. lerouxii resembles P. turritella that is also endemic to Cuba. Both share a similar body shape, yellow ground color of body, pronotum with irregular callosities on both sides and elytra deeply punctate. The similarity between both species was also pointed out by Blake (1937), who observed that P. turritella has elytra with hump below scutellum before the middle, more produced than in P. lerouxii . After analyzing a larger series of specimens, I can add that P. lerouxii has pronotum around 1.8 X wider than long, with truncate posterior angle, elytra with smooth lateral margin and poorly developed humeral ridge. In contrast, P. turritella has body with pronotum around 1.7 X wider than long, with sinuous posterior angle, elytra with rugose lateral margin and humeral ridge absent. The main diagnostic characters to distinguish P. lerouxii , P. blakeae , and P. turritella are summarized in Table 1 .

Distribution. Cuba ( Boheman, 1854). New country record for Haiti.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Paratrikona lerouxii (Boheman, 1854), lectotype: 1, dorsal view; 2, lateral view; 3, labels; 4 – 6, Paratrikona blakae new species, holotype: 4, dorsal view; 5, lateral view, 6, labels; 7 – 9, Paratrikona ovata Blake, 1938, holotype: 7, dorsal view; 8, lateral view; 9, labels; 10 – 12, Paratrikona rubescens Blake, 1939, paratype: 10, dorsal view; 11, lateral view; 12, labels.

Tables

TABLE 1. Diagnostic characters distinguishing P. lerouxii, P. blakeae and P. turritella.

Diagnostic character/ species	P. lerouxii	P. blakeae	P. turritella
Pronotum	ca. 1.8 X wider than long	depressed medially	ca. 1.7 X wider than long
Pronotum posterior angle	truncate	truncate	sinuous
Elytra puncturation	as wide as intervals	2 x smaller than intervals	wider than intervals
Elytral lateral margin	smooth	smooth	rugose
Elytral postscutellar elevation	present, low and obtuse	present, low and obtuse	present, high and angulate
Elytral postscutellar elevation followed by	straight slope	convex slope	concave slope
Humeral angles	rounded, not exceeding mid- length of pronotum	slightly truncate, exceeding mid-length of pronotum	rounded, not exceeding mid- length of pronotum
Humeral ridge	present	present	absent