Cassida emontinensis, Borowiec & Świętojańska, 2022

Borowiec, Lech & Świętojańska, Jolanta, 2022, A monograph of the Afrotropical Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Part 6. Revision of the tribe Cassidini 3, the genus Cassida L., Zootaxa 5171 (1), pp. 1-250 : 66-67

Cassida emontinensis sp. nov.

( figs. 8 , 322–323 )

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AACC09E2-0DED-430C-8808-18878F690EEA

Etymology. Named after its type locality East London which in Xhosa language is named eMonti.

Description. L: 5.20–5.80 mm, W: 4.40–4.75 mm, Lp: 2.00–2.20 mm, Wp: 3.10–3.35 mm, L/W: 1.18–1.22, Wp/Lp: 1.52–1.60. Body almost circular ( fig. 322 ).

Pronotum yellow. Elytra yellow with black stripe in postscutellar area. Basal margin of pronotum and anterior margin of elytral disc narrowly black ( figs. 322, 323 ). Head, ventrites, legs and antennae uniformly yellow.

Pronotum elliptical, with maximum width slightly before middle, sides broadly rounded, no basal corners. Disc moderately convex, indistinctly bordered from explanate margin, with indistinctly separated area above head. Surface of disc impunctate, shiny. Explanate margin broad, impunctate, shiny, transparent with honeycomb structure.

Scutellum triangular, without punctures, rows or wrinkles. Base of elytra slightly wider than base of pronotum. Humeri distinctly protruding anterad, subangulate. Disc in profile distinctly, regularly convex, with top of convexity in postscutellar area ( fig. 323 ), without postscutellar and principal impressions, without H–shaped elevation. Punctation of disc regular, moderately coarse and moderately dense, distance between punctures from as wide as to twice wider than puncture diameter. Punctures on slope as dense as on other parts of disc. Marginal row distinct, its punctures as coarse as in submarginal row. Intervals on op of disc twice wider than rows, on sides from as wide as to 1.5 times as wide as rows, interspaces on sides of elytra not convex, surface of elytral sides appears regular. Marginal interval distinct, approximately as wide as submarginal interval and two submarginal rows combined, without humeral and lateral folds. Explanate margin of elytra moderately declivous, broad, in the widest part four times narrower than disc, its surface shallowly, densely punctate, appears distinctly irregular.

Head broad, eyes large, gena very short. Clypeus approximately 1.2 times as wide as long, with distinct clypeal lines converging in regular triangle, surface of clypeus flat, shiny, with few very small setose punctures. Labrum minutely emarginate. Antennae slim, segments 8–10 distinctly longer than wide. Length ratio of antennal segments: 100:53:58:58:53:44:56:53:53:61:108, segment 3 approximately 1.1 times as long as segment 2, and as wide as segment 4.

Prosternal process moderately broad, strongly expanded apically, area between coxa impressed, shiny with several small, hairy punctures, rhomboidal apex with round impression in the middle, shiny with several small hairy punctures.

Claws simple.

Distribution. East Cape Province in South Africa ( fig. 8 ).

Remarks. A member of the Cassida unimaculata species–group. Cassida emontinensis is intermediate between C. drakensbergensis and C. unimaculata The three species have an almost circular body, strongly convex elytral disc without impressions and H–shaped elevation, broadly rounded sides of pronotum with no lateral corners, impunctate pronotal disc of, regularly punctate elytral disc, yellow ventrites and antennae, and a characteristic elytral pattern with small a black marking in the postscutellar area ( fig. 322 , 324, 326). Like in C. drakensbergensis it has very narrow spot in the postscutellar area forming a stripe not extending behind sutural border ( fig. 322 ) while in C. unimaculata the spot is broad, usually round, only occasionally elongate ( figs. 326, 327 ), but unlike C. drakensbergensis its elytral punctation is moderately coarse and moderately dense like in C. unimaculata . Like in C. unimaculata the interspaces on the sides of the elytra are not convex, not forming a low folds thus the surface of elytral sides appears only slightly irregular, while in C. drakensbergensis the interspaces are slightly convex, form some folds thus the surface of elytral sides appears partly irregular). The surface of the explanate margin of elytra in Cassida emontinensis is distinctly irregular, like in C. drakensbergensis (regular to only slightly irregular in C. unimaculata ), but punctures in the anterolateral and central part of the elytra without dark areola, like in C. unimaculata (with dark areola in C. drakensbergensis ).

Types examined. Holotype: [ SOUTH AFRICA]: EAST LONDON / 4.–8.XII.1950 / R. M. Martin ( MNHW); two paratypes: the same data as holotype ( MNHW).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Distribution of Cassida capensis (black circles) Cassida cordula (black square) and Cassida emontinensis (black diamond). FIGURE 9. Distribution of Cassida distinguenda (black circles), Cassida diversepunctata (black diamond) and Cassida drakensbergensis (black square).

FIGURES 322–323. Cassida emontinensis. 324–325. Cassida drakensbergensis. 322, 324. Dorsal; 323, 325. Lateral.

FIGURES 326–328. Cassida unimaculata. 329–330. Cassida ghesquieri. 326–327, 329. Dorsal; 328, 330. Lateral.