Hypericia Bedel, 1899

Mikhailov, Yu. E., 2024, REVIEW OF LEAF BEETLES OF THE SUBGENUS HYPERICIA BEDEL, 1899 (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE: CHRYSOLINA) FROM EAST ASIA, Far Eastern Entomologist 499, pp. 1-18 : 3-9

Subgenus Hypericia Bedel, 1899

Hypericia Bedel, 1899 : 258. Type species: Chrysomela hyperici Forster, 1771 , by original designation.

In the leaf beetle genus Chrysolina the larvae and imagines are feeding on the host plants from eight families among that Lamiaceae and Asteraceae are predominating ( Mikhailov, 2011). The peculiarity of the subgenera Hypericia Bedel, 1899 and Sphaeromela Bedel, 1899 is their feeding on the plant family Hypericaceae from subclass Rosids, while Lamiaceae and Asteraceae are in the subclass Asterids ( The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, 2016). Also Pasteels et al. (1984) found that the mentioned subgenera Hypericia and Sphaeromela form a special group among Chrysomelinae producing polyoxygenated steroids as defensive toxins instead of cardenolides typical for other subgenera. Ch. dydimata produces only one cardenolide instead of 4–12 different ones in other Chrysolina species ( Pasteels et al., 1984). Both peculiarities in host-plant associations and defensive chemistry may suggest the possibility to raise this group to a distinct genus; however the molecular topologies inferred by Jurado-Rivera & Petitpierre (2015) were not compatible with this hypothesis and treat Hypericia among other lineages of the genus Chrysolina .

The subgenus Hypericia is characterized by the following combination of morphological characters ( Bienkowski, 2019): dorsum entirely metallic; pronotum broadest basally, weakly to strongly swollen laterally along entire length, with narrow lateral furrow deep to shallow in basal part, anteriorly with broad shallow to obsolete lateral impression covered by few or numerous punctures; elytra with regular paired puncture rows of moderately large to coarse punctures densely or sparsely placed; hind wings developed; pygidium with longitudinal groove along entire length or except near apex; tarsomeres 1–3 with entire sole in both sexes; aedeagus presented by two types: 1) narrow, tubular, apically rounded or triangular; flagellum straight, apically broadened into complicated plate; 2) dorso-ventrally flattened, apically bearing long projection; flagellum narrow, tubular, turned aside and truncated apically.

The structure of male tarsomeres and aedeagus clearly distinguishes western and eastern groups of species in the subgenus (see below). In the West Palaearctic species tarsomeres 1–3 much broader in male than in female ( Figs 1, 2 ), while in the East Palaearctic species tarsomeres 1–3 narrow in both sexes ( Fig. 3 ). Only West Palaearctic species have aedeagi without apical projection and straight flagellum apically broadened into complicated plate ( Fig. 4 ). East Palaearctic species have aedeagi with narrow flat projection apically and flagellum turned aside and truncated apically ( Figs 8–12 ). Only Ch. hyperici from the western group of species has similar aedeagus ( Fig. 5 ), but in combination with broad male tarsomeres.

Hypericia has no trans-Eurasian species, only Kemerovo region (Kuzbass) in West Siberia is the place, where one West Palaearctic species Ch. hyperici and one East Palaearctic species Ch. difficilis (Motschulsky, 1860) meet ( Gus’kova et al., 2018). In West Siberia Ch. hyperici is known from Tyumen’ ( Medvedev, 2013) and Kemerovo regions, however the record in Omsk region was based on misidentification ( Moseyko et al., 2021). Ch. difficilis has the westernmost localities in Gornaya Shoria and Altai: at Teletskoye Lake in Russian Altai and near Ridder (former Leninogorsk) in Kazakh Altai. The known distributions of the species below are based on the data from the first edition of the Palaearctic Catalogue ( Kippenberg, 2010), the monograph of Bieńkowski (2019) and the data from the examined collections.

West Palaearctic species group (nine species from Europe, North Africa, Near East, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Iran)

Ch. anatolica (Dahlgren, 1984) Bulgaria, Türkiye.

Ch. brunsvicensis (Gravenhorst, 1807) West and Central Europe ( Portugal, Spain, France, Great Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland).

Ch. corcyria (Suffrian, 1851) Italy (including Sicily) and Greece.

Ch. cuprina (Duftschmid, 1825) France, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia (south of European part, North Caucasus, South Urals), Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Türkiye.

Ch. didymata (Scriba, 1791) Europe ( France, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, W Ukraine), Türkiye, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, W Turkmenistan, N Iran.

Ch. geminata (Paykull, 1799) Europe (incl. European Russia eastwards to SW part of Sverdlovsk region), Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia.

Ch. hyperici (Forster, 1771) Europe (including European Russia and Caucasus), West Siberia (Tyumen’ and Kemerovo regions), North Kazakhstan, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Uzbekistan, Iran, North Africa.

Ch. quadrigemina (Suffrian, 1851) West and South Europe ( Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Albania, Greece), Azores, North Africa.

Ch. syriaca (Weise, 1884) Israel, Syria.

East Palaearctic species group (seven species from Siberia, Russian Far East, China, Korea, Japan, Northern Vietnam)

Ch. difficilis (Motschulsky, 1860) Russia (South Siberia (Gornaya Shoria, Altai, Sayans), Transbaikalia, Far East), Eastern Kazakhstan, Eastern Mongolia, NE China (Inner Mongolia, Jilin (first record, see below)), Korea, Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku).

Ch. fricata Bechyně, 1950 SE China (Fujian, Guizhou) .

Ch. gracilis Bechyně, 1950 S China ( Guandong, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan) , North Vietnam.

Ch. nikkoensis ( Jacoby, 1885) Japan (Honshu, Hokkaido), Russia (South Kurile Islands: Shikotan (first record, see below).

Ch. medogana Chen et Wang, 1981 SW China (Tibet).

Ch. ohoi Chûjô, 1958 China (Taiwan).

Ch. changbaishana sp. n. NE China (Jilin) .

Ch. difficilis is the only representative of Hypericia in Altai, the Sayans, Transbaicalia, Russian Far East, and Korea ( Mikhailov & Hayashi, 2000; Cho & An, 2020). In Japan Ch. difficilis is widely distributed throughout Hokkaido, while the majority of records from Honshu and Shikoku need confirmation ( Saitoh, 2012). The reliable record from Honshu is only Mt. Garyu in Hiroshima prefecture and from Shikoku is Mt. Tsurugi – locus typicus of Ch. shikokensis Nakane, 1963 ( Suenaga & Takemoto, 2017).

Taeniosticha difficilis Motschulsky, 1860: 228 ("Siberie occidentale", lectotype in ZMMU, designated by L. Medvedev, 2006).

Chrysomela sibirica Weise, 1887: 177 (" Amur "), nec Gebler, 1830: 218. Synonymised by Bienkowski, 2019: 860.

Chrysomela ussuriensis Jacobson, 1901: 126 (" Amur ", holotype is a specimen identified by Weise, 1887: 180 as " Chrysomela aeruginosa "). Synonymised by Bienkowski, 2019: 104.

Chrysomela yezoensis Matsumura, 1911: 142 (Sakhalin: "Galkinowraskoe", syntypes exanimed by Takizawa, 1970). Synonymised by Bienkowski, 2019: 104.

Chrysolina (Hypericia) nikinoja Bechyné, 1950: 155 (" Corée: Niki Nojo", lectotype in NHMB-GFC, designated by Bieńkowski, 2001). Synonymised by Bienkowski, 2001: 169.

Chrysolina (Hypericia) pseudogeminata Bechyné, 1950: 156 (" Japon: Kioto ", lectotype and paralectotype in NMPC, designated by Bienkowski, 2019). Synonymised by Bienkowski, 2019.

Chrysolina (Hypericia) nikinoja exgeminata Bechyné, 1952: 380 (" S. Mandschurei: Chikuanstan", lectotype in NHMB-GFC, designated by Bieńkowski, 2001). Synonymized by Bienkowski, 2001: 169.

Chrysolina (Hypericia) cuprina dilecta Bechyné, 1952: 380 (" Altai: Semenovsk", "Minussinsk", syntypes in NHMB-GFC). Synonymized by Bienkowski, 2019: 105.

Chrysolina (Hypericia) shikokensis Nakane, 1963: 19 ("Mt. Tsurugi, Shikoku", holotype in SEHU, examined by photo). Synonymized by Takizawa, 1970, proved by Suenaga & Takemoto, 2017.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. NE Kazakhstan, 40 km NNE Leninogorsk, mine Chekmar , 700 m, 06–09.VII 1992, 1♂ , A. Napolov leg. ( HKC); [ Russia, Altai] N shore of Teletskoye lake, uroch. Dzhailau , 07. VI 1901, 1♂, ( HKC) ; Russia, Maritime Province, Lazovsky nature reserve, Lazo village , 1–9.VIII 2005, 1 ♂ , V. Shokhrin leg. ( YMC); Russia, Maritime Province, Lazovsky nature reserve, Chekhunenko lake , 12–13.VIII 2005, 1 ♂ , Yu. Sundukov and V. Shokhrin leg. ( YMC); China, Jilin Prov., 25 km SSE of Erdaobaihe Town, Naitoushan Mts., upper of Naidaohe river , 1100 m, 42.22°N 128.27°E, 12.VII 2012, 1 ♂ , R. Dudko leg. ( YMC); China, Jilin Prov., 33 km SSE Erdaobaihe Town, upstream of Erdaojian river , 1100 m, 42.19°N 128.35°E, 13.VII 2012, 1 ♂ , R. Dudko leg. ( YMC); Japan, Hokkaido, Sapporo, Shiraikawa , 06.VII 2004, 1♂ , S. Saitoh leg. ( HKC).

REMARKS. Usually Ch. difficilis was divided into three subspecies ( Kippenberg, 2010), Ch. difficilis difficilis , Ch. difficilis ussuriensis Jacobson, 1901 and Ch. difficilis yezoensis Matsumura, 1911 , occupying respectively Siberian, Far Eastern continental and island parts of the range. Bienkowski (2019) examined the specimens from different regions and did not find clear differences in the body size and shape, only found some geographical difference in dorsal colouration, although with exceptions. The colouration of the articular membrane between abdominal sternites may be rufous or black, but these differences are not connected with the region. Therefore all subspecies were synonymized.

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Bechyné (1950, 1952) erroneously considered Ch. difficilis to be a member of the subgenus Allohypericia Bechyné, 1950 , either as a synonym of Ch. sibirica Weise, 1887 or as a subspecies of Ch. aeruginosa . Therefore he compared his newly described species of Hypericia with Ch. geminata or Ch. nikkoensis but not with Ch. difficilis .

In the description of Chrysolina (Hypericia) nikinoja Bechyné, 1950 , where male body length was 8 mm, female – 9 mm, this species was characterized as the largest among eastern representatives of Hypericia Also for the male of Ch. nikinoja the transverse depression on the last abdominal ventrite was indicated as a peculiar character ( Bechyné, 1950). Bienkowski (2019) examined the type of the subspecies Ch. nikinoja exgeminata Bechyné, 1952 and did not find any reliable differences from the nominotypical subspecies except only a slightly stronger transverse depression on the abdominal ventrite 5.

The examined material on Ch. difficilis proved that relatively large body length around 8.0 mm and depression on the male abdominal ventrite 5 are peculiar for this species and all taxa synonymized to it. Although in Jilin province of China almost in sympatry with the findings of Ch. difficilis the specimen was collected distinctly smaller ( Fig. 6 ), with the last abdominal ventrite without depressions and with different dorsal punctation. This specimen is described herein as a species new to science.

Figures

Figs 1–3. Habitus in dorsal view. 1 – Chrysolina hyperici Forster, male (Groissenbrunn, Austria); 2 – Ch. geminata Paykull, male (Achit district, Sverdlovsk region, Russia); 3 – Ch. difficilis Motschulsky, male (Lazo village, Maritime province, Russia). Scale bar = 1 mm.

Figs 4–5. Aedeagus in dorsal and lateral view. 4 – Chrysolina geminata Paykull (Achit district, Sverdlovsk region, Russia); 5 – Ch. hyperici Forster (Groissenbrunn, Austria). Scale bar = 1 mm.

Figs 8–12. Aedeagus in dorsal and lateral view. 8 – Chrysolina difficilis Motschulsky (Lazo village, Maritime province, Russia); 9 – Ch. difficilis (Naitoushan Mts., Jilin Province, China); 10 – Ch. changbaishana sp. n., holotype (S of Erdaobaihe, Jilin Province, China); 11, 12 – Chrysolina nikkoensis Jacoby (Krabovaya bay, Shikotan Island, Russia). Scale bar = 1 mm.

Figs 6–7. Habitus in dorsal view. 6 – Chrysolina changbaishana sp. n., holotype, male (S of Erdaobaihe, Jilin province, China); 7 – Ch. difficilis Motschulsky, male (Naitoushan Mts., Jilin province, China). Scale bar = 1 mm.