Phygasia diluta Chujo 1963
Creators: name: Lee, Chi-Feng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Phygasia
Phygasia diluta

description: Phygasia diluta Chûjô, 1963, status resurrected
(Figs 4, 5, 10, 11, 15, 18, 21, 24, 26–32)
Phygasia ornata: Chûjô, 1936: 18 (part); Kimoto, 1991: 24 (part).
Phygasia ornata diluta Chûjô, 1963: 400; Kimoto, 1966: 35 (part); Kimoto and Takizawa, 1997: 411 (synonymized with P. ornata).
Phygasia diluta: Kimoto, 1971: 78 (raised to species rank).
Phygasia taiwanensis Ge et al., 2010: 325. New synonym
Description. Male. Length 5.8–6.4 mm, width 3.1–3.5 mm. General color (Fig. 4) yellowish-brown; antennomeres III-XI darkened, tibia basally darkened; elytron white; one transverse black spot at humerus and subapically, apex orange, with narrow transverse black band between white and orange areas. Pronotum about 1.8 times wider than long, disc smooth, with scattered fine punctures. Elytra 1.4 times longer than wide, lateral margin slightly rounded, widest just behind middle, disc with densely distributed small punctures and randomly occurring large punctures.
Antennomeres III-VII widened (Fig. 10); ratio of length of antennomeres III to XI about 1.0: 0.8: 0.9: 0.9: 0.9: 0.9: 0.8: 0.8: 1.0, ratio of length to width of antennomeres III to XI about 1.7: 1.4: 1.5: 1.6: 1.8: 1.8: 2.1: 2.5: 3.2. Penis (Figs 15a, b) elongate, about 4.3X longer than wide, apex of tectum a little lower than that of penis, subparallel-sided, strongly narrowed subapically, apex rounded, moderately curved in lateral view; ventral side evenly convex.
Female. Length 5.3–7.0 mm, width 3.0–4.0 mm. Similar to males, but antennomeres III-VIII narrower (Fig. 11), ratio of length of antennomeres III to XI about 1.0: 1.0: 1.1: 1.0: 1.0: 1.0: 0.8: 0.8: 1.2, ratio of length to width of antennomeres III to XI about 2.1: 2.0: 2.2: 2.2: 2.3: 2.6: 2.4: 2.6: 4.0. Gonocoxa (Fig. 18) medially connected, apex widely rounded, base weakly sclerotized, three long setae at apex, three long setae at outer side. Spermatheca (Fig. 21) with receptacle strongly swollen; pump strongly curved, apex rounded; proximal spermathecal duct wide. Spiculum of sternite VIII (Fig. 24) longer then P. chengi but shorter than P. o r n a t a. Bursa-sclerites highly variable. Some individuals with only one pair of bursa-sclerites, each with single seta; others with two pairs of bursa sclerites, dorsal pair (Figs 27 a, 28a) better developed, with three or four prominent setae, base well-sclerotized; ventral pair (Figs 27 b, 28b) with one to three prominent setae but base weakly-sclerotized.
Color variation. In some specimens, the transverse black spots on humerus and near elytral apex form transverse bands across elytral base and apex and the antennomeres III-XI, tibia, and tarsus are almost black (Fig. 5).
Diagnosis. Phygasia diluta differs from P. ornata and P. chengi by its yellow-brown or dark brown antenna, tibia, and tarsus (antenna, tibia, and tarsus black in P. ornata and P. chengi); relatively wider penis (4.3 times longer than wide) compared to P. ornata (4.6 times longer than wide) and narrower penis compared to P. chengi (3.9 times longer than wide); relatively longer sternite VIII compared to P. chengi and shorter sternite VIII compared to P. ornata ..
Type material examined. Holotype 3 (Fig. 29) of Phygasia ornata diluta Chûjô labeled (Fig. 30): “ Formosa Sauter / Takao (= Kaoshiung city) 1907. VIII.1 / Holotypus Phygasia ornata ssp. diluta Chujo / Holotype / Phygasia ornata diluta CHUJO Det. M. CHUJO, 1961” (HNHM). Allotype Ƥ (Fig. 31) labeled (Fig. 32): “ Formosa Sauter / Kanshirei (= Kuangtyling, Tainan county) 908. VI.7 -(19)15. / Allotypus Phygasia ornata ssp. diluta Chujo / Allotype / Phygasia ornata diluta CHUJO Det. M. CHUJO, 1961” (HNHM).
Material examined (27 specimens). 1Ƥ, Pingtung, Kankau (= Changkou), 27.V.1932, leg. R. Takahashi (TARI); 1Ƥ, Pingtung, Kuaru (= Kenting), 15.VI.1937, leg. M. Chujo (TARI); 1Ƥ, same locality, 18–23.III.1981, leg. K. S. Lin & T. Lin (TARI); 13, same locality, 22-26.III.1982, leg. T. Lin & S. C. Lin (TARI); 1Ƥ, same locality, 24.XI.2009, leg. C.-F. Lee (TARI); 43, 4ƤƤ, Pingtung, Sheting, 15.VIII.2009, leg. S.-F. Yu (TARI); 23, 5ƤƤ, same but with “leg. M.-H. Tsou” (TARI); 23, 2ƤƤ, Pingtung, Shuangliu, 19.VII.2007, leg. S.-F. Yu (TARI); 13, same locality, 30.V.1997, leg. C. W. & L. B. O’Brien (NMNS); 1Ƥ, Pingtung, Tahanlintao, 22.VIII.2011, leg. J.-C. Chen (TARI); 13, Taitung, 4km N. Chinglun, 30.V.1997, leg. C. W. & L. B. O’Brien (NMNS).
Host plant. Asclepiadaceae: Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) Schultes.
Distribution. Southern Taiwan (Fig. 26). This species is restricted to lowlands.
description: Published as part of Lee, Chi-Feng, 2012, The genus Phygasia Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) in Taiwan, pp. 27-37 in Zootaxa 3256 on pages 30-32, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.210503