Alagoasa burmeisteri ( Harold, 1881 )

Begha, Bruno Piotrovski, Prado, Laura Rocha & Oliveira, Sarah Siqueira, 2025, Oedionychina (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) from the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, a Cerrado remnant, Zootaxa 5659 (1), pp. 29-50 : 31-34

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5659.1.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CCC3FF8A-F8B6-4A85-AFE7-065C7D2BDBAF
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15822981
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A487DA-8D79-FFC2-3B89-FC95FE0EFB95
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Alagoasa burmeisteri ( Harold, 1881 )
status

Treatment

Alagoasa burmeisteri ( Harold, 1881)

( Figs 1A–1C View FIGURE 1 , 3A View FIGURE 3 – 2C View FIGURE 2 , 5A–5C View FIGURE 5 , 6A–6C View FIGURE 6 , 7A View FIGURE 7 , 8A View FIGURE 8 , 9A View FIGURE 9 , and 10A View FIGURE 10 )

Oedionychus burmeisteri Harold 1881: 147 (type locality, Corrientes, Argentina); Blackwelder 1945: 709 (as Oedionychus ). Bechyně 1955a: 203; Bechyně, 1955b: 9; Bechyně, 1958: 683; Bechyně, 1959: 358; Bechyně & Bechyně, 1971: 303.

Length: 6.29 mm (male), 8.40–8.60 mm (female), based on one male and three females.

Head: oval, base of vertex bearing two darker divergent maculae or a triangular macula. Width of head greater than height in frontal view. Interocular space nearly twice width of eye. Height of eye longer than 1,5 times its width. Interantennal space brown, projected beyond antennal bulbus. Vertex sparsely covered with small punctures. Antennal calli trapezoid, brown, supracallinal sulcus and midfrontal sulcus well-marked. Anterofrontal ridge tall, narrow, abruptly sloping towards labrum, making nearly 90-degree angle between frons and labrum. Gena bearing many short setae. Labrum suboval with small, curved recess in margin, with four horizontal evenly spaced setae.

Antennae: filiform, with 11 antennomeres. Antennomere I as long as II and III combined. Antennomeres I–IV dark yellow, antennomeres V–XI dark brown.

Prothorax: yellow, side margins of pronotum widely explanate, anterior angle of pronotum extending beyond head insertion, posterior angle of pronotum acuminate, pointed outwards.Anterolateral callosity short and truncated, thin in lateral view. Anterior pronotal margin convex and posterior pronotal margin nearly parallel in dorsal view. Prosternum same color as pronotum, emarginated, anterior margin V-shaped, anterior margin of prosternum explanate, prosternal process rounded. Three distinct morphs were observed, one female and one male with two trapezoid black maculae centrally positioned on the disk of pronotum (morphotype 1— Fig. 1A View FIGURE 1 ); one female with a black pronotum with yellow lateral margins (morphotype 2— Fig. 1B View FIGURE 1 ); and one female with a yellow pronotum and a trapezoidal black macula (morphotype 3— Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 ). Mesothorax and metathorax: yellow to dark brown, mesothorax short, metathorax rectangular with metathoracic suture visible. Bearing fine setae disposed through whole thorax. Elytra: widely explanate, epipleura bent upwards except for the distal third of elytra. Covered with confused punctuation. Four distinct morphs were observed: one male with elytral integument dark yellow and black maculae, 14 black maculae, and one triangular macula in median apical portion of elytra ( Fig. 1A View FIGURE 1 , right specimen); one female like previous male, with 12 black maculae, and one triangular macula in median apical portion of elytra (morphotype 1— Fig. 1A View FIGURE 1 , left specimen); one female with dark brown to black elytral integument, with 12 pale yellow maculae, and pale yellow epipleura (morphotype 2— Fig. 1B View FIGURE 1 ); one female with dark yellow elytral integument, with 20 black maculae, and one triangular macula in median apical portion of elytra (morphotype 3— Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 ). Scutellum dark brown to black. Legs: yellow, pro- and mesothoracic tibiae similar, lacking spurs. Metafemur wide, nearly as wide as length of metatibia, somewhat triangular with concave outer margin. Metatibia with wide distal recess and sharp denticle medially near apex, tibial spur robust and curved. Distal metatarsomere strongly globose.

Abdomen: dark brown, distal portion and sides yellow, five visible segments. Fine setae present throughout. Abdominal process between metacoxae narrow. Aedeagus, median lobe ( Figs. 7A View FIGURE 7 , 8A View FIGURE 8 , 9A View FIGURE 9 ): dorsal process acuminate. Apical hood reduced, exposing complex structures on dorsal face. Short, length approximately three the times length of the exposed apical portion. Oblique dorsal process converging at base and nearly parallel at apex, apex pointing outwards and upwards. Apex of dorsal median process wider than base. Basal hooks small, acuminate. Spermatheca ( Fig. 10A View FIGURE 10 ): receptacle goblet-like. Pump convex, acuminate, less sclerotized than receptacle, base of pump narrower than apex of receptacle. Spermathecal duct long, with three tight coils.

Studied specimens: BRAZIL, GO, Goianápolis Parque Altamiro de Moura Pacheco-PEAMP | Malaise Mata, margem do córrego carapina – Trilha da Onça | -16.534879 -49.113812 – 790m | 08.ix.2022 - 05.x.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♀, ♂ ( MZSP); GoogleMaps Malaise Mata – Trilha do Tamanduá | -16.553250 -49.131511 – 880m | 08.ix.2022 - 05.x.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♀ ( ZUFG); GoogleMaps (Same location as previous) 05.x.2022 - 09.xi.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♀ ( ZUFG) GoogleMaps .

Distribution: Brazil – states of Goiás, Mato Grosso; Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay.

Remarks: Illustrations of elytral patterns in Bechyně (1955a) helped identification of these specimens; while morphotypes 2 and 3 are presented in that publication (table 18, figures 13 and 17 respectively), morphotype 1 is not. Morphotype 1 bears some resemblance to A. nigromaculata ( Harold, 1876) (table 17, figures 21 and 22 in Bechyně, 1955a).

We compare dissected genitalia to specimens of Alagoasa dissected by Begha et al. (2021b), Konstantinov et al. (2022), and Ramos et al. (2024). While A. burmeisteri has a singular median lope shape, highlighting the acuminate oblique dorsal process, the wide apex of median dorsal process is similar to A. areata ( Germar, 1824) . As for the spermatheca, when compared to A. libentina ( Germar, 1824) (10E), the pump is mostly straight in shape, and the pump apex is curved downward.

The male is noticeably smaller than the females (ca. 20mm of difference in length). The aedeagus bears similarities to those observed for other Alagoasa species ( Begha et al. 2021b). After comparing the morphology of the spermatheca, dark brown antennal calli and interantennal space, shape of anterolateral callosities, and the prosternum, morphotypes were all deemed similar enough to be grouped in the same species. Due to a lack of dissected genital material currently, we can’t determine if A. nigromaculata is a separate species or part of the A. burmeisteri complex.