Ochraethes viridiventris ( Chevrolat, 1860 )

Heffern, Daniel, Botero, Juan Pablo & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2020, Synonymies, new records, and new species in Cerambycinae (Coleoptera Cerambycidae), Zootaxa 4747 (1), pp. 177-190 : 178

Ochraethes viridiventris ( Chevrolat, 1860)

Clytus (Ochroesthes) viridiventris Chevrolat, 1860: 479 .

Ochrestes viridiventris ; Lacordaire, 1869: 66.

Ochresthes viridiventris ; Bates, 1880: 52 (distr.); 1885: 297.

Ochraethes viridiventris ; Aurivillius, 1912: 386 (cat.); Blackwelder, 1946: 581 (cat.); Chemsak et al., 1992: 70 (checklist); Monné, 1993: 20 (cat.); Monné & Giesbert, 1994: 116 (checklist); Noguera & Chemsak, 1996: 401 (checklist); Monné, 2005: 109 (cat.); Monné & Hovore, 2006: 46 (checklist); Monné, 2019: 157 (cat.); Bezark, 2019b: 74 (checklist).

Ochresthes nigritus Bates, 1892: 162 ; Chemsak, 1967: 77 (lect.). Syn. nov.

Ochraethes nigritus ; Aurivillius, 1912: 386 (cat.); Blackwelder, 1946: 581 (checklist); Monné, 1993: 18 (cat.); Monné & Giesbert, 1994: 116 (checklist); Monné, 2005: 107 (cat.); Monné & Hovore, 2006: 46 (checklist); Monné, 2019: 145 (cat.); Bezark, 2019b: 74 (checklist).

Ochraethes nigrita ; Chemsak et al., 1992: 69 (checklist); Noguera & Chemsak, 1996: 401 (checklist).

Although the original description of the elytral pubescence of the holotype of Ochraethes viridiventris is somewhat confused, and only can be really understood with the examination of the photograph of the holotype (see Bezark 2019a), it is possible to see that the elytral pubescent drawing is nearly identical to that of the lectotype of O. nigritus (see Bezark 2019a). According to Bates (1892): “Closely allied to O. viridiventris (Chevr.) , and scarcely distinguishable from it except in the very different colour of the pubescence which clothes the upper surface […] All the specimens I have seen from Guerrero [ Mexico] are alike in the black upper surface and cinereous elytral belts. In O. viridiventris the colour is ocherous.” It is hard to understand the description of the color of the dorsal pubescent bands, because it is yellowish, and evidently not cinereous. Furthermore, according to Chevrolat (1860), the color of the elytral pubescent bands is “jaune sulfureux” (sulfurous yellow), and not ochraceous.Actually, the pubescence color of the dorsal surface is very similar in the holotype of O. viridiventris and the lectotype of O. nigritus (see Bezark 2019a). Bates (1892) also described the pubescence of the ventral surface of the body as “griseo-cinereo” [ash-gray], while Chevrolat (1860) described as being “viridi-sulphureus / “vert tendre” [greenish-sulfurous / soft green]. Based on the inaccurate description of the color of the dorsal pubescence in Bates (1892), it is difficult to be sure about the description of the color of the ventral pubescence, but it appears to be accurate in Chevrolat’s description. However, the color of the pubescence in several species of Clytini may be extremely different (e.g. from a very vivid yellow to distinct white). Thus, all features pointed out by Bates to distinguish those to species are useless. It is important to note that the drawing of Ochraethes nigritus in Bates (1892) does not agree very well with the photograph of the lectotype (body shape and elytral pubescent maculae). Accordingly, we are considering O. nigritus as a junior synonym of O. viridiventris .