Calligrapha (Erythrographa), Gómez-Zurita, 2018

Gómez-Zurita, Jesús, 2018, Systematic revision of Central American Calligrapha Chevrolat of the subgenus Erythrographa subgen. nov. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Chrysomelinae), Zootaxa 4531 (1), pp. 1-58 : 3-4

Description of Erythrographa subgen. nov.

The most comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of Calligrapha Chevrolat to date showed the monophyly and deep phylogenetic relationship with other lineages of a group of species including C. intermedia Jacoby , C. labyrinthica Stål , C. notatipennis Stål , C. thermalis Gómez-Zurita , and C. wickhami Bowditch ( Montelongo & Gómez-Zurita 2014) . These species, together with their close relatives as deduced from different combinations of shared morphological features are grouped here with subgeneric taxonomic rank (subgeneric type: C. labyrinthica Stål ), for which the new subgenus Calligrapha (Erythrographa) subgen. nov. is proposed. The subgenus is provisionally subdivided in four species groups, including these of C. limbaticollis Stål (four species), C. femorata Jacoby (two species), C. intermedia Jacoby (three species) and C. labyrinthica Stål (four species).

Among characters typically exploited in the revision of the genus Calligrapha , there is not one that can be considered apomorphic of Erythrographa subgen. nov., despite its monophyly having been established based on independent data ( Montelongo & Gómez-Zurita 2014). However, there are a number of characteristic traits that can be defined as typical of most species in this group, even though there are exceptions to most of them. The subgenus includes medium sized (i.e., 7.5–9.5 mm long) to the largest species of the genus ( C. gyllenhali Stål , about 11–12 mm long). All the species have irregular patterns of dark stripes and spots on elytra, and the dark parts of the beetle bodies are most often reddish testaceous, with bicolorous pronotum in the C. limbaticollis Stål group and uniformly dark in the other groups. The antennae are slender, slightly clavate, with antennomeres longer than wide (ratio W/L of eighth antennomere ranging from 0.63 to 0.83). Labrum generally long and mandibles large and prominent, and most species also have long and slender maxillary palpi, with the last palpomere strongly dilated apically. The hypomeral suture on thorax is present and typically deep, and all species have simple claws, divergent at acute angle. Most species have two spots enclosed by the humeral lunule, one anterior small (apparently missing in C. gyllenhali Stål and ocassionally strongly reduced in some individuals of other species) and one posterior large, although they can be fused as in the C. limbaticollis Stål and C. femorata Jacoby groups (and sporadically in the other species too). Most species have well developed, or at least traces of both subhumeral and midlateral spots, but one or the other can be secondarily lost in some taxa (e.g., subhumeral spot is not present in C. suboculata Stål and the midlateral spot is absent in C. notatipennis Stål ). The arcuate band is generally short and usually placed postmedially on elytra. Finally, in male genitalia, the apical border is usually convex, with lateral teeth continuing the apical curvature of the apical border, and the end of flagellum can be simple as in the C. limbaticollis group, or with a characteristic bifid termination in the C. intermedia Jacoby and C. labyrinthica Stål groups (no male was available for dissection in the C. femorata Jacoby group).

Derivatio nominis. The name chosen for this supraspecific assemblage is based on the original name Calligrapha , and combines the Ancient Greek adjective έρΥΘρóς (eruthrós), used as prefix meaning red, and the noun γραφή (graphé), a representation by means of lines. The name intends to highlight that the subgenus includes nearly all the reddish species of Calligrapha .