Chelymorpha commutabilis Boheman, 1854

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 321-322

Chelymorpha commutabilis Boheman, 1854

Chelymorpha commutabilis Boheman, 1854: 58 (original description).

Chelymorpha parummaculata Boheman, 1854: 34 (original description), syn. nov.

Chelymorpha longula Boheman, 1857: 79 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Chelymorpha commutabilis : ‘Brasilia’; C. longula : ‘Brasilia’; C. parummaculata : ‘Brasilia’.

Type material examined. Chelymorpha commutabilis : LECTOTYPE (designated by BOROWIEC 1999a):?♂, pinned, ‘ Brasil [w, p, s] || M. Berl [w, p, s] || Type [w, p, s] || LECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, p, cb] || NHRS-JLKB | 000021865 [w, p, cb]’ ( NHRS) .

Chelymorpha longula : LECTOTYPE (present designation): ♀, pinned, ‘ Type [w, p, s, c, rf] || Brazil [hw] | Baly Coll. | 1905—54. [w, p, cb] || Chelymorpha | longula | Boh | Brazil [w, hw by Baly, cb] || Boh : Type | Col: Deyrolle [hw by Baly on underside of preceding label]’ ( BMNH).

Chelymorpha parummaculata : HOLOTYPE: pinned, ‘14197 [w, p, s] || parummacu- | lata Boh.* | Bras. Virm. [g, hw, cb, bf] || HOLOTYPUS | L. Sekerka des. 2008 [red, p, cb, bf]’ ( ZMHB).

Remarks. Chelymorpha parummaculata was an enigmatic taxon listed only in catalogues and informally synonymized with C. cribraria sensu auct. (nowadays C. multipunctata (Olivier, 1791)) by VASCONCELLOS- NETO (1988) who considered it a colour form of the latter. However, the synonymy was most likely not based on type material as the holotype of C. parummaculata is very different from C. cribraria sensu auct. as it has very densely and quite coarsely punctate elytra.

BOHEMAN (1854) described also Chelymorpha commutabilis and compared it to C. parummaculata and differentiated it by presence of two small black spots on the disc of pronotum, which are absent in the latter species. I have studied types of both taxa and they are identical except colouration of pronotum. Since both taxa were described in the same publication I followed the Principle of the first reviser ( ICZN 1999: Article 24.2) and chose the name C. commutabilis as valid because it was previously correctly applied.

BOHEMAN (1857) described Chelymorpha longula from the material of Deyrolle. SPAETH (1923) transferred it to Eutheria Spaeth, 1909 and synonymized Physonota bipunctata Wagener, 1877 with it. Spaeth made the transfer and probably the synonymy as well only upon the primary description. Species of Cassidinae described by BOHEMAN (1857 and 1862) from the material of Deyrolle were largely purchased by J. S. Baly and are nowadays housed in BMNH. There is a single specimen in the BMNH which agrees with the primary description of C. longula and undoubtedly belong to the type series. Since Deyrolle was insect trader and Boheman did not mention how many specimens he had at his disposal, it is not certain whether the taxon was based only on a single specimen. Hence, I designate the BMNH specimen as lectotype, in order to clarify the identity of this taxon for the purpose of synonymy.

The lectotype of C. longula is an incompletely sclerotized and discoloured specimen. However, it exhibits characters typical for C. commutabilis , such as the slightly elevated impunctate costae on densely punctate elytra. I therefore synonymize C. longula with the latter species. Due to the new synonymy, I restore the species status of Eutheria bipunctata (see remarks under that species).

Distribution. Brazil: Minas Gerais ( BOROWIEC & SKUZA 2004).