Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914

Sassi, Davide, 2014, Taxonomic remarks, phylogeny and evolutionary notes on the leaf beetle species belonging to the Cryptocephalus sericeus complex (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae), Zootaxa 3857 (3), pp. 333-378 : 335-336

Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914

Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914: 514 . Type locality: Telouet, Morocco. Lectotype (present designation) in MNCN.

Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914 and C. teleuticus Escalera, 1914 are poorly known endemic species from the Moroccan Atlas ( Lopatin et al., 2010). Escalera (1914) described them based on specimens collected by himself in Glaui (now Telouet, near Ouarzazate). He separated the two species on the basis of ambiguous and generally unstable characters such as the dorsal colour pattern and the pronotal punctation. Kocher (1959), who studied the type series of the two species, kept them apart, but reported that the specimens of C. telueticus from Central Atlas examined by him had pronotal punctation denser and strigose, which is precisely the aspect used by Escalera for characterizing C. azurescens . He also acknowledged that in the latter species the colour is very variable, emphasizing the presence of several aberrations ( Kocher, 1953). Besides, Kocher reaffirmed the validity of the separation of the two taxa basing his statement on the analysis of an "aberrant" specimen, which he initially attributed to C. telueticus ( Kocher, 1953) . Subsequently, however, Kocher (1959) assigned this specimen to a chromatic form (“ab. vaucheri ”) described by Pic (1950) and attributed by himself to C. azurescens! Thanks to the courtesy of Dr. Mercedes París (MNCN) I had the opportunity to study the type series of the two species, comparing them with several specimens corresponding to the description of Escalera, from Oukamedien, about 60 kilometers West from the type locality and from where the presence of C. azurescens ( Kocher, 1953) has already been reported. I can confirm both the great variability of colour pattern—metallic blue tints and reddish on dorsal surface are distributed in widely differing proportions—and the instability of the punctation of the pronotum. Besides, the shape of the aedeagal median lobe is not significantly different. For these reasons I propose the following synonymy: C. telueticus Escalera, 1914 n . syn. of C. azurescens Escalera, 1914 . In order to clarify taxonomic ambiguities I have designated lectotypes of both species, choosing specimens that best match Escalera's original description. Aedeagal shape of the lectotype of C. azurescens is figured (fig. 1).

Material examined: Type series of C. azurescens . Male: Glaui (handwritten, white label) / azurescens (handwritten, white label) / sintipo (printed, red label) / MNCN cat. Tipos N° 2234 (partly printed, red label) / MNCN _Ent N° Cat. 78236 (printed, grey label) / Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914 LECTOTYPUS D. Sassi des. (printed, red label).

Male: Glaui (handwritten, white label) / grupo de baeticus nouv (handwritten, white label) / azurescens (handwritten, white label) / sintipo (printed, red label) / MNCN cat. Tipos N° 2234 (partly printed, red label) / MNCN _Ent N° Cat. 78235 (printed, grey label) / Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914 PARALECTOTYPUS D. Sassi des. (printed, red label).

Type series of C. telueticus . Male: Glaui (handwritten, white label) / grupo de Pareci [?] bleu (handwritten, white label) / telueti (handwritten, white label) / sintipo (printed, red label) / MNCN cat. Tipos N° 2235 (partly printed, red label) / MNCN _Ent N° Cat. 78237 (printed, grey label) / Cryptocephalus telueticus Escalera, 1914 LECTOTYPUS D. Sassi des. (printed, red label).

Male: Glaui (handwritten, white label) / sintipo (printed, red label) / MNCN cat. Tipos N° 2235 (partly printed, red label) / MNCN _Ent N° Cat. 78239 (printed, grey label) / Cryptocephalus telueticus Escalera, 1914 PARALECTOTYPUS D. Sassi des. (printed, red label).

Female: Glaui (handwritten, white label) / telueti (handwritten, white label) / sintipo (printed, red label) / MNCN cat. Tipos N° 2235 (partly printed, red label) / MNCN _Ent N° Cat. 78238 (printed, grey label) / Cryptocephalus telueticus Escalera, 1914 PARALECTOTYPUS D. Sassi des. (printed, red label).

Besides, 23 further specimens of C. azurescens from the environments of Oukaimeden (Haut Atlas, Morocco) have been also examined by the author (author's collection).

The synonymic summary of C. azurescens is as follows:

Cryptocephalus (Cryptocephalus) azurescens Escalera, 1914 Cryptocephalus azurescens Escalera, 1914: 514 .

Cryptocephalus rugicollis ab. vaucheri Pic, 1950: 2.

Cryptocephalus azurescens ab. malhommei Kocher, 1959: 23.

Cryptocephalus telueticus Escalera, 1914: 515 . n. syn.

Cryptocephalus telueticus var. pseudobaeticus Burlini, 1959: 196 . n. syn.