Typophorus cyanipennis ( Lefèvre, 1876 )

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 : 718

Typophorus cyanipennis ( Lefèvre, 1876)

( Figs. 5m , 6e )

New species record: JGZC: female ( JGZC-1387 ), Managua, Montelimar, Reserva Natura , 11.862763 -86.5117021, 69 m, 9 October 2010, J.-M. Maes leg., Typophorus cyanipennis Lef. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2022. MEL: 1 ex., #247 , Managua, El Crucero, 11.980569 -86.311052, 900 m, 27 June 1997, J.-M. Maes & V. Thompson leg., Typophorus cf. mexicanus R. Westerduijn det. 2020.

This originally Mexican species of Typophorus has been recognized as allied to another Mexican and Guatemalan species, T. mexicanus Jacoby, 1876 (Jacoby 1882). While it was initially proposed that the reddish legs of the former (at least on femora basally) could distinguish them compared with the dark metallic legs of the latter ( Jacoby 1876, 1882), it was subsequently recognized that T. mexicanus could show variability in this trait as well (Jacoby 1891), thus complicating the separation of both species. Both T. cyanipennis and T. mexicanus share their very characteristic chromatic pattern and a tenuous, nearly imperceptible punctation on head and thorax, and faint, sparse punctation on elytra, and they may be indeed conspecific. Jacoby (1891) struggled to keep them separated on the basis of supposedly longer antennae in T. mexicanus . While this issue is settled, the specimens from Nicaragua, including a 4.0 mm long female ( Fig. 6e ) conforms better to the original description and chromatic traits of T. cyannipennis , also in the smaller size (Lefèvre gave 4.5–6.0 mm for his taxon, and Jacoby 5.3 mm), and considering that Jacoby’s description was published nearly at the end of 1876 (5th December), it is possible that Lefèvre’s taxon would have precedence in case of an eventual synonymy were decided. The spermatheca of one Nicaraguan specimen is figured ( Fig. 5m ).

Figures

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

Fig.6 Dorsal views of the new records of Nicaraguan Eumolpinae in the tribe Typo- phorini, including Metachroma panamense Blake (a), Paria nigritarsis Jacoby (b), Tijucana vitticollis (Jacoby) (c), Typopho- rus apicicornis Jacoby (d), T. cyanipennis Lefèvre (e), and T. subbrunneus Jacoby (f). Scale bar=1.0 mm