Metaparia lesueuri ( Lefèvre, 1875 )

Sublett, Clayton A. & Cook, Jerry L., 2021, A Comprehensive Revision of the Genus Metaparia Crotch, 1873 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae) and Description of a New Genus, The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (4), pp. 779-811 : 791-794

Metaparia lesueuri ( Lefèvre, 1875) ( Figs. 2e , 25–30 )

Spintherophyta lesueuri Lefèvre 1875: 105 .

Spintherophyta lesueuri : Jacoby 1881: 122.

Spintherophyta lesueuri : Lefèvre 1885: 6.

Spintherophyta lesueuri : Jacoby 1890: 203.

Spintherophyta lesueuri ab. cuprascens Bechyné 1950b: 239.

Metaparia leseuri : Flowers 1996: 42 [incorrect subsequent misspelling; species transferred to Metaparia ].

Type Specimens. Lectotype here designated, male, pinned with a female on the same pin: labeled

“Joxpam/ Mexico./Salle Coll. [Joxpam is handwritten, remainder of label is typed]//575//B.C.A./122.1.// Spintherophyta / lesueuri, Lef. /Afud Salle// SYNTYPE [circular label outlined in blue]”; deposited in the BMNH. Paralectotypes here designated, 1 female pinned with and labeled the same as the lectotype, and 1 pinned male labeled and 1 card-mounted female labeled “Joxpam/ Mexico./Salle Coll.// B.C.A./122. 1.// Spintherophyta / lesueuri, Lef. /Afud Salle// SYN- /TYPE [circular label outlined in blue]”; deposited in the BMNH.

Redescription. Body ovate, sides subparallel, dorsum convex ( Figs. 25, 26 ). Length 2.61–3.58 mm (males) or 2.84–3.64 mm (females).Width 1.66–2.62 mm (males) or 2.01–2.59 mm (females). Color rose with green-gold sheen, venter black-blue with gold or green-gold sheen, legs black-blue with gold to green-gold or rose sheen, antennomeres 1–5 brown, antennomeres 6–11 dark brown with bluish sheen. Head: IOR 1.93–2.56 (males) or 1.79–2.26 (females). Frons punctate-setose, space between punctures microsculptured; punctures medium, medium dense, stretched medially at dorsal and dorsolateral edges; setae fine. Clypeus punctate-setose, space between punctures microsculptured, form trapezoidal, apex emarginate; punctures medium, dense, coarse to rugulose; setae longer apically; emargination trapezoidal to M-shaped, deep ( Fig. 27 ). Labrum shining blue-black. Mandibles enlarged, lateral face convex, coarsely punctate to subrugulose, sparsely setose (males) or mandibles not enlarged, lateral face flat, punctures moderately deep (females); dorsal face smooth, weakly angled towards outer edge (males) or smooth, flat (females); right mandible inner edge with a tooth, left inner edge smooth (males) or both inner edges smooth (females).Antennal sclerite with patch of short setae. Antenna scarcely reaching past base of pronotum. Antennomere 1 rectangular with metallic blue-black spot dorsally. Antennomeres 7–10 subquadrate, slightly wider apically, small pit dorsoapically. Antennomere 11 with two small pits apically. Pronotum: Pronotal ratio 0.53–0.59 (males) or 0.44–0.58 (females). Disc with medium, dense punctures interspersed with sparse micropunctures, space between punctures smooth. Sides subparallel in basal half, evenly rounded in apical half. Posterior edge margined with lip; top edge margined with punctures, lower edge smooth. Anterior corners weakly deflexed. Scutellar shield: Form pentagonal to triangular, corners rounded, base weakly concave to straight, disc smooth. Elytra: Disc punctate-striate, space between punctures smooth; punctures large and dense basally, smaller and less dense apically; striae indistinct basally, more defined apically. Sublateral costae indistinct to absent. Subbasal calli present, impunctate. Venter: Prosternal lateral arms weakly, broadly convex, tapering towards pronotum, anterior edge ventrally folded ca. 90° at prosternum ( Fig. 2e ). Disc subrugulose. Anterior margin with bead, sparsely setose. Prosternum weakly convex anteriorally, sides concave in anterior 3/4 and straight in posterior 1/4, posterior edge concave, disc sparsely setose with light sculpturing. Mesoventrite broadly convex anteriorly. Legs: Meso- and metatrochanters with a primary seta. Aedeagus: Median lobe subequal in length to basal hood, weakly curved in basal half and straight in apical half, sclerotized region around endophallic opening not thickened apically, apex emarginate, not upturned; emargination arched across medial 1/3 of apex ( Figs. 29, 30 ). Spermatheca: Broadly U-shaped, flat; base and apex bulbous ( Fig. 28 ).

Diagnosis. Metaparia lesueuri is distinguished by the concave posterior margin of the prosternum and the broadly U-shaped spermatheca with bulbous base and apex. Metaparia opacicollis and M. viridimicans have broadly U-shaped spermathecae, but neither species has both the base and apex bulbous. Metaparia guatemalensis has a very similar body shape and coloration to M. lesueuri , but the two species can be further separated by the following characters in M. lesueuri : moderately laterally convex male mandibles (strongly convex in M. guatemalensis ), dark red-brown legs (light brown in M. guatemalensis ), and rounded apical corners of the median lobe (straight in M. guatemalensis ).

Specimens Examined. 179 specimens deposited in BMNH, BYU, CAS, EGRC, NMNH, TAMU, and UNAM. GUATEMALA: Alta Verapaz: Balheu (2 BMNH) ; San Joaquin (1 BMNH) . HONDURAS: Francisco Morazan: 25 km SW Talanga (2 EGRC) ; Tegucigalpa (1). MEXICO: Chiapas: 9 km N of Berriozabal (6 TAMU) ; 6.2 mi. N of Berriozabal (5 TAMU) ; Bonampak (1 CAS) ; 12 mi. N Ocozocautla (1 TAMU) ; 13 mi. NW Ocozocautla (1 TAMU) ; Ocozocuautla Reserva , 16°53′02′′N / 93°27′37′′W (4 UNAM) ; Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello (1 BYU) ; Simojovel (1 EGRC) ; Santa Ines (1 UNAM) ; Tenejapa, Pokolum (13 CAS) ; Jalisco: State of Jalisco (5 NMNH, 4 UNAM). México: State of Mexico (1 NMNH) . Oaxaca: Ayautia (4 UNAM) ; 11 mi. N Matias Romero (2 TAMU) ; Metates (2 UNAM) ; Puerto Angel (16 NMNH) ; Puerto Eligio (1 UNAM) . RinAntonio (1 NMNH) . Quintana Roo: 4 mi. N Felipe Carrillo Puerto (1 TAMU) . Veracruz: Atoyac (4 BMNH) ; Citlaltepetl (3 CAS) ; Coatapec 8 mi. S of Jalapa (4 CAS, 2 TAMU); Cordoba (14 NMNH) ; Cordova (3 BMNH) ; Cucitláhuoc (1 UNAM) ; 8 km N Fortin (3 TAMU) ; Fortin de las Flores (5 CAS) ; 3 km SE Huatusco (1 UNAM) ; Huatusco (1 UNAM) ; Jalapa (6 BMNH) ; 11 mi. S of Misantla (1 TAMU) ; Ocotal Chico (19 UNAM) ; Orizaba, Cerdo de San Cristobal (2 TAMU) ; Santa Elena (3 UNAM) ; State of Veracruz (3 CAS) ; Tuxtla, cerro El Vigia Santiago (1 UNAM) ; Xico (4 UNAM) ; Zongolica (1 UNAM) . Yucatan: State of Yucatan (4 BMNH) . Mexico (11 BMNH, 2 BYU). Unknown: F. Islas Presidio.Ver. (4 UNAM) . No locality (3 BMNH, 1 NMNH) .

Distribution. Guatemala (Alta Verapaz), Honduras (Francisco Morazan), Mexico (Chiapas, Jalisco, México, Quintana Roo, Veracruz) ( Fig. 71 ).

Temporal Occurrence. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, December.

Remarks. Lefèvre (1875) recorded the type locality as “ Mexico ”, but did not designate a type or list the sex or number of specimens examined. There are five specimens in the BMNH identified as M. lesueuri and bearing type labels. One is a card-mounted male, one is a pinned male, two (a male and female) share a pin, and one is a misidentified specimen of M. cephalotes . Since generic boundaries are based on male characters and the card-mounted male and individually pinned male have many of the head and ventral characters obscured, we chose the male pinned with a female as the lectotype. The remaining type specimens, with the exception of the misidentified male, are designated as paralectotypes. Because the type labels were not placed by the original author, we cannot be certain that the misidentified male was part of the original type series, which is why we are not giving it type status.

Bechyné (1950b) described S. lesueuri ab. cuprascens, an aberration of S. lesueuri , based on specimens colored differently than the typical form, “f. typique ”. Article 45.5 of the fourth edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature states that any infrasubspecific name is unavailable unless otherwise stated by Article 45.6. Any name including the term “ab.” is deemed infrasubspecific ( ICZN 1999; Article 45.6.2), so S. lesueuri ab. cuprascens Bechyné, 1950 is here noted as unavailable.

Figures

Fig. 2. Lateral arm of prosternum of species of Metaparia. a) M. cephalotes, b) M. clytroides, c) M. guatemalensis, d) M. hybrida, e) M. lesueuri, f) M. mandibuloflexa, new species, g) M. opacicollis, h) M. prosopis, new species, i) M. viridimicans. Scale bars = 0.5 mm. Left side is anterior edge.

Figs. 25–30. Lectotype of Metaparia lesueuri. 25) Dorsal habitus; 26) Lateral habitus; 27) Head, frontal view; 28) Spermatheca; 29) Median lobe, apical view; 30) Median lobe, lateral view. Figs. 25, 26 scale bars = 1.0 mm; Figs. 27, 29, 30 scale bars = 0.5 mm; Fig. 28 scale bar = 0.1 mm.

Figs. 70–75. Distribution maps for Metaparia and Dispardentium species. 70) M. cephalotes (black circles), M. clytroides (black triangles), M. guatemalensis (gray triangles); 71) M. hybrida (gray triangles), M. lesueuri (black circles), M. mandibuloflexa, new species (black triangles); 72) M. opacicollis (black triangles); 73) M. prosopis, new species (black triangles); 74) M. viridimicans (black triangles); 75) D. laevicollis (black triangles).