Miopristis flexuosa ( Thunberg, 1821 )

Bezděk, Jan, 2019, Annotated review of Cryptocephalinae (Clytrini), Synetinae and part of Galerucinae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) described by Carl Peter Thunberg, European Journal of Taxonomy 499, pp. 1-42 : 15

Miopristis flexuosa ( Thunberg, 1821)

Fig. 7

Clythra flexuosa Thunberg, 1821: 184 (original description).

Miopristis namaquensis Medvedev, 1993b: 21 (original description). Syn. nov.

Clythra flexuosa – Forsberg 1821: 269, 288 (redescription). — Lacordaire 1848: 393.

Miopristis flexuosa – Gemminger & Harold 1874: 3280 (catalogue).

Miopristis (Miopristis) flexuosa – Jacoby & Clavareau 1906: 12 (catalogue). — Clavareau 1913: 29 (catalogue).

Type localities

Clythra flexuosa : “Cap” [= from the publication title]. Miopristis namaquensis : “ South Africa, Richtersveld, Kubosa settlement (28.27° S, 17.43° E)”.

Material examined

Holotype

SOUTH AFRICA • ♀; “Uppsala Univ. Zool. Mus. / Thunbergsaml. nr. 8233 / Clythra flexuosa / Cap. TYP [r, p] // flexuosa . / Cap. 12 [box label, w, h]”; UUZM.

Additional material

SOUTH AFRICA – Northern Cape • ♂ (photograph), paratype of Miopristis namaquensis ; “ S. Afr., Namaqualand / Eselsfontein / 29.42 S – 17.43 E [w, p] // 16- 17.9.1984; 460 m / yellow Comp. & Acacia / leg. C. L. Bellamy [w, p] // Miopristis / m. / namaquensis [h] / L. N. Medvedev det. 19 [p] 90 [w, h] // PARATYPUS [r, p]”; LMRM . – Western Cape • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Calvinia Nat. Res.; 1000 m a.s.l.; 25 Sept. 1984; W. Wittmer leg.; NHMB .

Distribution

RSA.

Comments

Lacordaire (1848) listed Clythra flexuosa as a species unknown to him and speculated that it could belong to the genus Macrolenes Chevrolat, 1836 . Subsequent catalogues include this species in the genus Miopristis ( Jacoby & Clavareau 1906; Clavareau 1913). Based on the examination of the holotype, I can confirm its position in Miopristis . Moreover, I examined the photograph of a male paratype of M. namaquensis and two additional specimens of M. namaquensis deposited in NHMB, identified by Dieter Erber. Undoubtedly, M. namaquensis is conspecific with M. flexuosa , and thus the new synonymy is proposed.

Figures

Fig. 7. Miopristis flexuosa (Thunberg, 1787). A–D. Holotype, ♀, 4.5 mm, UUZM. A. Dorsal view. B. Frontal view. C. Label. D. Box label. E. ♂, 7.0 mm, RSA, Calvinia Nat. Res., NHMB. F. ♀, 4.7 mm, RSA, Calvinia Nat. Res., NHMB.