Spintherophyta minuta (Jacoby, 1881)

Gómez-Zurita, Jesús & Maes, Jean-Michel, 2022, New Genera and Species Records of Nicaraguan Eumolpinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Including a New Species in a New Generic Record for Central America, Neotropical Entomology 51 (5), pp. 705-721 : 716

Spintherophyta minuta (Jacoby, 1881)

( Figs. 1f , 3e , 5j )

New species record: JGZC: (1) female ( JGZC-2612 ), Rivas, Cárdenas, Finca Isla Vista , 11.23345 -85.55123, 56 m, 6 February 2012, A. Cardoso, G. De la Cadena, J.-M. Maes & A. Papadopoulou leg., Spintherophyta minuta (Jac.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2022; (2) female ( JGZC-2626 ), Rivas, Cárdenas, Finca Sierra Serena , 11.23527 -85.55388, 69 m, 7 February 2012, A. Cardoso, G. De la Cadena, J.-M. Maes & A. Papadopoulou leg., Spintherophyta minuta (Jac.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2022; (3) female ( JGZC-1308 ) and males ( JGZC-1298 , JGZC-1310 ), Rivas, Sapoa, Finca Guadalupe , 11.179983 -85.6807925, 290 m, 15 September 2009, J.-M. Maes leg., Spintherophyta minuta (Jac.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2022; (4) female ( JGZC-2631 ), Rivas, Sapoa, Finca Guadalupe , 11.18847 -85.67619, 157 m, 9 February 2012, A. Cardoso, G. De la Cadena, J.-M. Maes & A. Papadopoulou leg., Spintherophyta minuta (Jac.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2022.

Jacoby (1881, p. 110) described Chrysodina minuta from Guatemala, not to be confounded with Lamprosphaerus minutus described from the same country (p. 113), the latter having been already reported from Nicaragua ( Maes and Staines 1991). Relative to the former, the author expressed doubts about its correct generic placement, mainly because of its relatively elongate shape and long prosternum, which did not fit his concept of Chrysodina (Jacoby 1890) . Lefèvre (1889a) transferred Jacoby’s taxon to Lamprosphaerus without justification, but Jacoby (1890) was not satisfied with this decision, highlighting that the enlarged apical antennomeres of his species were not characteristic of Lamprosphaerus . Bechyné (1953) proposed a new combination with Nodonota , and years later to Antitypona , but without any justification ( Bechyné 1955). Flowers (1996) treated most Chrysodina described by Jacoby as Spintherophyta , including C. minuta . The specimens collected in Nicaragua ( Fig. 1f ) agree well with the type of C. minuta , also in the shape of their antennae, with short antennomeres 3 and 4 and a markedly enlarged second antennomere, characteristic of Central American Spintherophyta ; they also show clear microreticulation on head and pronotum, even though the dorsal tinge is of a stronger green and blue hue compared with the type. Thus, we tend to agree with Flowers’ (1996) assessment for this species and retain it in Spintherophyta , and take the opportunity to illustrate the penis ( Fig. 3e ) and spermatheca ( Fig. 5j ) of this species for the first time. S. minuta is only known from Guatemala, and the Nicaraguan records, all found in the south of the country, represent a remarkable expansion of the known range of the species.

Figures

Fig. 1 Dorsal views of some of the new records of Nicara- guan Eumolpinae in the tribe Eumolpini, including Antity- pona submetallica (Jacoby) (a), Brachypnoea modesta animato- ria (Bechyné) (b), Caryonoda funebris n. sp. (c), Chrysodi- nopsis cupriceps (Lefèvre) (d), Spintherophyta ignita (Lefèvre) (e), and S. minuta (Jacoby) (f). Scale bar=1.0 mm

Fig. 3 Lateral and dorsal apical views of the penis of Colaspis jalapae (Bechyné) (a), Chrysodinopsis cupriceps (Lefèvre) (b), Antitypona submetallica (Jacoby) (c), Rhabdopterus uncotibialis (Blake) (d), Spintherophyta minuta (Jacoby) (e), Talurus tortonesei Bechyné (f), Typophorus subbrunneus Jacoby (g), Allocolaspis grandicollis (Blake) (h), Nodocolaspis femoralis (Lefèvre) (i), Brachypnoea modesta animatoria (Bechyné) (j), and Caryonoda funebris n. sp. (k). Scale bar=0.2 mm

Fig. 5 Spermathecae of Brachypnoea modesta anima- toria (Bechyné) (a), Chrysodi- nopsis cupriceps (Lefèvre) (b), Colaspis jalapae (Bechyné) (c), Megascelis spinipes Jacoby (d), Metachroma panamense Blake (e), Nodocolaspis femoralis (Lefèvre) (f), Paria nigritar- sis Jacoby (g), Rhabdopterus uncotibialis (Blake) (h), Spintherophyta ignita (Lefèvre) (i), S. minuta (Jacoby) (j), Talurus tortonesei Bechyné (k), Typophorus apicicornis Jacoby (l), T. cyanipennis Lefèvre (m), and T. subbrunneus Jacoby (n). Scale bar=0.2 mm