Wallacea Baly, 1859

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2015, Wallacea, Pistosia and Neodownesia: three distinct genera and their tribal placement (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 55 (2), pp. 713-743 : 728-729

Wallacea Baly, 1859

( Fig. 4 )

Wallacea Baly, 1859: 97 (original description); CHAPUIS (1875): 282 (redescription); GEMMINGER & HAROLD (1876):

3602 (catalogue); GESTRO (1897): 42 (Sumatran fauna); DONCKIER DE DONCEEL (1899): 552 (catalogue); GAHAN

(1900): 438 (stridulation); GESTRO (1900): 434 (correction of Donckierʼs catalogue); WEISE (1911a): 54 (catalogue); WEISE (1911b): 82 (diagnostic description, catalogue); GESTRO (1913): 45 (catalogue); GESTRO (1917): 49

(Philippine fauna); MAULIK (1919): 106 (redescription, Indian fauna); WEISE (1922): 71 (noted); WÜRMLI (1975):

50 (as syn. of Pistosia ); STAINES & STAINES (1999): 527 (Balyʼs taxa list); WOODLEY (2001): 410 (nomenclature);

BOROWIEC & SEKERKA (2010): 383 (catalogue).

Wallaceana Maulik, 1928: 159 (new substitute name for Wallacea Baly nec Doleschall); LEPESME (1947): 563 (host plants, biology); GRESSITT (1950): 92 (Chinese fauna); UHMANN (1956): 230 (key to genera), 233 (comparative notes); GRESSITT (1957): 302 (South Pacific fauna); UHMANN (1958): 229 (catalogue); UHMANN (1959): 5 (scutellum morphology); GRESSITT & KIMOTO (1963): 905 (Chinese fauna); UHMANN (1964): 461 (catalogue); HOWARD & ABAD (2001): 99 (noted).

Pistosia: WÜRMLI (1975) : 50 (diagnostic description); SEENO & WILCOX (1982): 164 (catalogue); CHEN et al. (1986): 134 (Chinese fauna), 599 (key to species); JOLIVET (1989): 311 (host plants); JOLIVET & HAWKESWOOD (1995): 154 (host plants); KIMOTO & CHU (1996): 128 (catalogue, Taiwan); KIMOTO (1999): 66 (key to species, SE Asia); KIMOTO (2000): 142 (catalogue); STEINER (2001a): 159 (morphospecies, Malaysia, host plants); STEINER (2001b): annex 1 (morphospecies, host plants); MOHAMEDSAID (2004): 169 (Malaysian fauna).

Pistocia [sic!]: MEDVEDEV & SPRECHER- UEBERSAX (2005): 333 ( Nepal fauna); KIMOTO (2005): 105 (catalogue).

Type species. Wallacea bowringii Baly, 1859 , by original designation.

Differential diagnosis. Wallacea is readily distinguished by four submoniliform and sparsely pubescent basal antennomeres and absence of the scutellar row of punctures. Pistosia , Bothryonopa , and Macrispa differs in having tubular antennae and in the latter two a scutellar row of punctures. Neodownesia has five shiny basal antennomeres and antennomeres V–X approximately twice as long as broad while Wallacea had antennomeres V–X compact, nearly as long as wide.

Biology and host plants. Thus far, biology is known for only a few species, all associating the genus with Arecaceae (see catalogue below). The published biological information is mostly limited only to host plants with exception of W. apicalis Gestro, 1896 (with synonym W. palmarum Gestro, 1913 ) and W. dactyliferae Maulik, 1919 , which have been more intensively studied as they were recognized as pests of some economically important palms, such as Cocos nucifera L., Areca catechu L., Metroxylon spp. , and Phoenix spp. Larvae as well as adults are feeding among new unopened leaves, occasionally causing extensive damage. SANTIAGO- BLAY (2004) erroneously listed Wallacea species as supposedly having leafmining larva, probably because the genus was at that time assigned to Gonophorini which have mining larvae. Although only larva of W. dactyliferae was described and figured I believe that also other Wallacea species will have similar larval type. STEINER (2001a,b) during his study of insects associated with rattans also collected numerous specimens of several Wallacea species including larvae and stated that the larvae live in young, unopened leaves eating epidermis.

Remarks. The genus name was substituted with name Wallaceana due to supposed homonymy ( MAULIK 1928), however, it turned out that the replacement name was unnecessary as Wallacea Baly was published earlier than Wallacea Doleschall, 1859 ( WOODLEY 2001).

Figures

Figs 1–7. 1 – Neodownesia mediovittata (Gestro, 1920) (Laos: Ban Song Cha, J, 8.7 mm); 2 – N. rubra Gressitt, 1953 (holotype, J, 6.5 mm); 3 – N. sita (Maulik, 1919) (Thailand: Soppong, ♀, 9.0 mm); 4 – Wallacea apicalis Gestro, 1896 (Indonesia: Mentawai Is.: Siberut, 5.3 mm); 5 – Pistosia terminalis (Baly, 1869) (holotype, 9.5 mm, © Natural History Museum, London); 6 – P. maculata (syntype, 12.0 mm, © Museum für Tierkunde, Berlin); 7 – P. testacea (Fabricius, 1801) (Indonesia: Sulawesi: Ahua Creek, 11.1 mm).