Demotispa pulchella Baly, 1858

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2014, Review of Imatidiini genera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (1), pp. 257-314 : 296-297

Demotispa pulchella Baly, 1858

Demotispa pulchella Baly, 1858: 67 (type locality: ‘Amazons; Peru’; LT! in BMNH!).

Stilpnaspis bicolorata Borowiec, 2000: 151 , syn. nov. (type locality: ‘ PERU, Loreto, Iquitos, Barillal’ ; HT! in DBET!, PT! in DBET!, ZMHB!)

Type material examined. D. pulchella : LECTOTYPE (present designation), pinned: ‘Type | H.T. [w, p, cb, circular label with red frame] || Baly Coll. [w, p, cb] || Demotispa | pulchella | Baly | Amazons, Peru [green, hw, cb, Baly’s hw]’ ( BMNH).

Remarks. BALY (1858) did not state how many specimens he had at his disposal, but he must have had at least two, as he mentioned the typical form with large red spot covering nearly whole elytra (coll. Baly) and the variety with completely black elytra (coll. Saunders). I have found one specimen of the typical form (ex coll. Baly), designated here as the lectotype ( Fig. 14 ) to conserve its identity and avoid further misapplications if additional specimen(s) is discovered. This is particularly important as it is the type species of the genus. I was not able to ¿nd the specimen representing the variety, which should also be located in BMNH, as the William Saunder’s collection came to the museum via Alexander Fry. However, it is quite unlikely that both specimens belong to a single species, as I have not so far observed such variability in any Demotispa species , having seen extensive material of all species. BOROWIEC (2000) described Stilpnaspis bicolorata from Peru, which perfectly agrees with the lectotype of D. pulchella , thus it is synonymized here. STAINES (2009) transferred D. pulchella to Stilpnaspis not knowing that it was actually the type species of Demotispa .

Distribution. Brazil: Amazonas ( BALY 1858), Peru: Huánuco, Loreto ( BALY 1858; BOROWIEC 2000, 2009).

Figures

Figs 12–24. Dorsal habitus. 18 – Katkispa insignis (Pic, 1934), syntype, Venezuela: Colonia Tovar; 13 – Weiseispa angusticollis (Weise, 1893), Ecuador: Río Palenque; 14 – Demotispa pulchella Baly, 1858, lectotype, Peru; 15 – Demotispa rubiginosa (Boheman, 1862), Panama: Chiriquí; 16 – Parimatidium rubrum (Boheman, 1850), French Guyana:St. Laurent du Maroni;17 – Pseudostilpnaspis lata (Baly, 1885), Panama:Santa Clara; 18 – Pseudimatidium elaeicola Aslam, 1966, Colombia: Calima area; 19 – Windsorispa latifrons (Weise, 1910), Colombia: SantoAntonio; 20 – Cephaloleia Àavipennis Baly, 1869, Ecuador: Río Hollín; 21 – Melanispa sp., Guadeloupe; 22 – Parentispa formosa (Staines, 1996), Panama: La Fortuna; 23 – Stenispa attenuata Baly, 1875, Panama: Gamboa; 24 – Lechispa parallela (Pic, 1930), syntype, Argentina: Rosas. All scale bars = 2.5 mm.