Botanochara sp.

Iorio, Osvaldo Di & Turienzo, Paola, 2014, The species of Botanochara Dejean, 1836 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from Argentina: an identification key, new host plant records and list of Cassidinae found in birds’ nests and other protected places, Zootaxa 3891 (1), pp. 1-74 : 51

Botanochara sp.

Poecilaspis tessellata , non Burmeister, 1870: Spaeth 1940: 144 [key], 146 [re-descr.; distr. (Salta)]; Flinte et al. 2009: 575 [distr.]: misidentification.

Botanochara tesselata , non Burmeister, 1870: Borowiec 2002: 55 [distr.]; Simões & Monné 2011: 224 [distr.; ref.]: misidentification.

Botanochara tesselata (Boh.) [sic], non Burmeister, 1870: Borowiec 2006: 127 [ref.]: misidentification.

Distribution: BRAZIL: Goiás: Brasilia-Belo Horizonte km 50, 1100 m, 15-XI-1983, Bordón leg., 1 ex [MRSNT] (Borowiec 2002); Ceará: 1905–1906, 2 exx. [IRSN] ( Borowiec 1996); Mato Grosso: Corumbá, 1 ex. [CMEP] ( Borowiec 1996); Pará: Obidos, IV-1921, S.M. Klages leg., 1 ex. [CMEP]; Santarem, 1 ex. [CMEP] ( Borowiec 1996); Rio de Janeiro: Itatiaia ( Flinte et al. 2009; Simões & Monné 2011). BOLIVIA: Villa Montes (Borowiec 2002). PARAGUAY: [Boquerón]: M. [= Mariscal] Estigarribia, 20-I-1990, Arriagada leg., 3 exx. [BLCP] [MCSN] ( Borowiec 1996), = Chaco (Borowiec 2002). ARGENTINA: Salta (Borowiec 2002): Guachipas ( Spaeth 1940); Chaco Occidental, Los Colorados, 50 km NE Joaquin V. Gonzales, II-1992, Brandon & Bestelmeyer leg., 2 exx. [MBLSC]; Chaco Occidental, 100 km NE Los Colorados, I-1993, M. McLaughlin leg., 1 ex. [MBLSC] ( Borowiec 2009); Tucumán: Guachipas, Reimoser leg., 1 ex. [Mus. Wien] ( Borowiec 2009); Córdoba: N of San Roque, 5–25-I-1985, M. Archangelsky leg., 1 ex. [MBLSC] ( Borowiec 2009).

Note: Spaeth (1940) treated as B. tessellata specimens having uniformly black pronotum, with the maximum width behind the middle and the lateral margins rounded; the elytra with a thin, shiny and light blood red reticulation, forming nearly straight rib opposite to the suture; the cells are also shiny, of small size and with 6–8 punctures. He also mentioned a specimen from Tucumán with the pronotum uniformly red. This short redescription does not agree with the type of B. tessellata ( Fig. 39 ), nor the habitus showed by Borowiec & Świętojańska (2002). Therefore, the specimens published as B. tessellata by Spaeth (1940) and Borowiec (1996, 2002, 2009) are not conspecific with the holotype, and have to be reclassified.

Figures

FIGURES 34–39. General aspects of Botanochara from Argentina: 34, B. impressa; 35–37, hybrids of B. impressa; 38, Botanochara sp. (Entre Ríos: Pronunciamiento); 39, B. tessellata (Holotype).