Diabrotica tripunctata (Fabricius, 1801) status restored

(Figs 72–74)

tripunctata Fabricius 1801: 451 (type locality: America meridionalis; type depository: ZMUC, lectotype, female, designated by Smith and Lawrence 1967: 135, examined) as Crioceris .

Material examined: Lectotype female (ZMUC): 1) [TYPE]; 2) [C: tripunctata ex Am: mer: Schmid]; 3) [Lectotype. Crioceris 3punctata Fabr. Smith 1965]. Three females (ZMUC): 1) [TYPE]; 2) [Paratype. Crioceris 3punctata Fabr.]. One female from Kiel collection (ZMUC): [3punctata].

This species has long been considered part of the melanocephala complex (Bechyné 1955b, Smith and Lawrence 1967) and treated as a synonym of D. sinuata (Olivier) (Wilcox 1971) . We studied the type material of D. tripunctata (Fabricius) in ZMUC. The lectotype is a female, but all external characters distinguish it from D. sinuata: penultimate joint of maxillary palpi slightly incrassate in D. tripunctata, but not incrassate in D. sinuata; elytra longer and narrower (the maximal width is posterior to the middle of the elytra) in D. tripunctata, but shorter and more roundish (the maximal width is at the middle of the elytra) in D. sinuata; pronotum slightly flattened in D. tripunctata, but convex in D. sinuata; elytral punctation coarse and deep (Fig. 74), punctures around scutellum connected in rough wrinkles in D. tripunctata, but surfaces of elytra and pronotum are shiny in D. sinuata .