Cirrhicera sallei Thomson, 1857

Heffern, Daniel & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2024, American Lamiinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae): new species of Acanthocinini and Hemilophini and a new synonymy in Cirrhicera Thomson, Zootaxa 5418 (3), pp. 201-222 : 217-221

Cirrhicera sallei Thomson, 1857

( Figs 41–72 )

Cirrhicera sallei Thomson, 1857: 310 ; Monné, 2023: 700 (cat.).

Cirrhicera sallaei var. panamensis Bates, 1885: 429 . Syn. nov.

Cirrhicera panamensis ; Chemsak, 1972: 89; Monné, 2023: 700 (cat.).

Note: for full references see ( Monné 2023 and Tavakilian & Chevillotte 2023).

Thomson (1857) described C. sallei based on syntypes ( Figs 41–52 ) from Mexico as follows (translated):“Homeland: Mexico. Length 11 mm; width 3 to 4 mm. Quite light brown, with white maculae; abdomen darker brown than the rest of the body; shiny. Head white, rarely brown. Two large maculae laterally on the prothorax; two other smaller spots below these [apparently, he was describing the pubescent spots on the sides of the prosternum, which are present in some specimens]. Two large maculae on the elytra, divided in the middle for the suture; the first one on the anterior quarter; the second one before the posterior third. Meso- and metathorax white pubescent laterally. A few indistinct or poorly formed maculae on the lateral area of the abdomen. Head punctate, when the pubescence which usually covers it is missing. Prothorax and elytra obsoletely punctuate, carinate laterally. Underside and legs smooth.” According to Monné (2024) and Tavakilian & Chevillotte (2023) the species was described based on a holotype. However, Thomson (1857) made clear that he had more than one specimen (“width 3 to 4 mm). We examined photographs of three syntypes (two females and one male).

Later, Bates (1885) described Cirrhicera sallaei [sic] var. panamensis based on syntypes from Panama as follows (translated): “With the larger sulphurous macula of the elytra, sometimes forming an elongate common macula not reaching the base.” Still according to Bates (1885): “The pale yellow spots on the sides of the ventral segments are the same in number in the sexes respectively as in Mexican typical examples, viz, in the male two, in the female four (of which that on the first segment is very small).” Aurivillius (1923), Blackwelder (1946), Gilmour (1965), and Chemsak & Linsley (1970) kept C. sallei var. panamensis as a variety of C. sallei (a subspecies—see ICZN 1999).

Chemsak (1972) revised Cirrhicera and considered C. panamensis as distinct from C. sallei . According to him, C. panamensis differs from C. leuconota by “the apex of the last abdominal sternite rounded,” [he examined a single male], while in C. leuconota “The abdomen has the last sternite emarginate apically in both sexes.” However, all males examined by us, that agree perfectly with the lectotype of C. sallei panamensis , have the apex of the abdominal ventrite 5 emarginate centrally. The specimen illustrated by Chemsak (1972) as C. panamensis was photographed by Larry G. Bezark ( Fig. 40 ) and, according to him (personal communication), the specimen is identified as C. leuconota . Therefore, the figures 3 and 4 ( Fig. 39 ) were inverted in Chemsak (1972). However, C. leuconota does not have a pubescent spot centrally close to the posterior margin of the pronotum. Thus, we do not know if the specimen ( Fig. 40 ), identified by Chemsak as C. leuconota , really is of this species.

The male specimens examined by us ( Figs 57–72 ) have a considerable number of variations: scape orangish, brown, or dark brown; antennomeres III and IV orangish or brownish; antennomeres V and VI brown, brown with base and/or apex orangish or yellowish, or dark brown; antennomeres VII–XI orangish brown, yellowish, with yellowish brown areas, or gradually browner toward XI; dark central band on the pronotum with very variable width, very variable in shape, from narrow to distinct wide, subparallel-sided, distinctly divergent toward anterior margin, or convex (in this case, sometimes so convex that the anterior and posterior areas only touch the lateral apices of the anterior and posterior margins), and with or without small projection toward sides about middle; light dense pubescence on elytra very variable, forming a large pubescent region or divided into two areas (in this case, with shape and length very variable); legs yellowish, brownish, or brown; abdominal ventrite 5 from orangish brown to dark brown, or even bicolorous; and dark integumental area on pronotum and elytra from brownish to dark brown. Apparently, males from Mexico ( Figs 61 , 72 ) often have divided elytral spots that are generally smaller, and the central dark stripe of the pronotum is generally wider. However, it is more probable that both forms occur from Mexico to Panama. On the other hand, the females examined do not present the variations found in the males, and all are very similar to the syntypes ( Figs 41–43, 49–51 ) and the Panamanian specimen ( Fig. 52–56 ). Therefore, if C. panamensis were eventually considered to be different from C. sallei , it would be impossible to separate the females. We believe that the only possible conclusion is that C. panamensis is just one of the forms of C. sallei and, therefore, should be considered a junior synonym of the latter.

Females of C. sallei differ from the males especially by the frons ( Fig. 56 ) without dense yellow pubescence (white in old specimens), and by the mesanepisterna and mesepimera ( Fig. 43, 51 , 55 ) not entirely covered by dense yellow pubescence (white in old specimens).

Material examined. MEXICO, Veracruz: 1 male, no more data ( MZSP) ; San Andrés Tuxtla , 1 female, XI.1944, Martins leg. ( MZSP) . GUATEMALA, Santa Rosa: Guazacapán , 1 male, no more data ( MZSP) . COSTA RICA, Limón: Reventazón ( Hamburg Farm ), 1 male, 15.XI.1922, F. Nevermann leg. ( MZSP) ; 1 male, 15.V.1924, F. Nevermann leg. ( MZSP) . PANAMA, Chiriquí: Las Lagunas For. Res. , 8.7751°N 82.6512°W, 5 males, 8-9.V.2023, B.T. Raber leg. (4 DHCO; 1 MZSP) . Bocas del Toro: Fortuna Cabins , 8.7814°N 82.1909°W, MV/UV, 1 female, 27.IV-4.V.2023, B.T. Raber leg. ( DHCO) .

Currently distribution. Mexico (Morelos, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, Chiapas), Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama ( Bezark 2023, 2024; Monné 2024; Tavakilian & Chevillotte 2023).

Figures

FIGURES 41–52. Cirrhicera sallei Thomson, 1857, syntypes. 41–44) Female: 41) Dorsal habitus; 42) Ventral habitus; 43) Lateral habitus; 44) Labels. 45–48) Male: 35) Dorsal habitus; 46) Ventral habitus; 47) Lateral habitus; 48) Labels. 49–52) Female: 49) Dorsal habitus; 50) Ventral habitus; 51) Lateral habitus; 52) Labels. By Christophe Rivier (MNHN).

FIGURES 53–63. Cirrhicera sallei Thomson, 1857. 53–56) Female from Panama (Bocas del Toro, Fortuna Cabins): 53) Dorsal habitus; 54) Ventral habitus; 55) Lateral habitus; 56) Head, frontal view. 57–60) Male 1 from Panama (Chiriquí, Las Lagunas): 57) Dorsal habitus; 58) Ventral habitus; 59) Lateral habitus; 60) Head, frontal view. 61–63) Male 1 from Mexico: 61) Dorsal habitus; 62) Ventral habitus; 63) Head, frontal view.

FIGURES 64–72. Cirrhicera sallei Thomson, 1857. 64–65) Male 2 from Panama (Chiriquí, Las Lagunas): 64) Dorsal habitus; 65) Ventral habitus. 66–67) Male 3 from Panama (Chiriquí, Las Lagunas): 66) Dorsal habitus; 67) Ventral habitus. 68–69) Male 4 from Panama (Chiriquí, Las Lagunas): 68) Dorsal habitus; 69) Ventral habitus. 70–71) Male 5 from Panama (Chiriquí, Las Lagunas): 70) Dorsal habitus; 71) Ventral habitus. 72) Male 2 from Mexico, dorsal habitus.

FIGURES 39–40. Cirrhicera spp. 39) Figure 1–4 by Chemsak (1972). 40) Cirrhicera leuconota (Laporte, 1840) sensu Chemsak (1972).