Cassida dorsata sensu Fabricius 1787
Creators: name: Sekerka, Lukáš
name: Barclay, Maxwell V. L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Cassida
Cassida dorsata

description: Cassida dorsata Fabricius, 1787
(Figs 16–18)
Cassida dorsata Fabricius, 1787: 64.
Aspidimorpha fuscopunctata Boheman, 1854: 298, syn. nov.
Aspidimorpha rubrodorsata Boheman, 1854: 310, syn. nov.
Type locality. Cassida dorsata: ‘Siam’; A. fuscopunctata: ‘Java’; A. rubrodorsata: ‘Java’.
Type material examined. Cassida dorsata: LECTOTYPE (here designated): pinned, ‘ Cassida dorsata | Fab. Mant Ins. 33. [w, hw, s, bf]’. The specimen is provided with an additional label: ‘LECTOTYPUS | Cassida | dorsata | Fabricius, 1787 | L. Sekerka & | M.V.L. Barclay des. 2014 [r, p, cb]’ (BMNH). Aspidimorpha fuscopunctata: LECTOTYPE (designated by BOROWIEC 1999): pinned, ‘Java. [w, p, s] || Mellb. [w, p, s] || Type. [w, p, s] || LECTOTYPE | des. L. Borowiec [r, p, cb] || NHRS-JLKB | 000020954 [w, p, cb]’ (NHRS). Aspidimorpha rubrodorsata: HOLOTYPE: pinned, ‘ Java. [w, p, s] || Westerm [w, p, s] || Type. [w, p, s] || NHRS-JLKB | 000020956 [w, p, cb]’ (NHRS).
Status in ZIMSEN (1964). P. 91; No. 1339. ‘London, 1 specimen’.
Original description. ‘C. thorace elytrisque obscuris, elytris spina suturali margineque albi ante: basi obscuro. Habitat in Siam. Mus. Dom. Banks.
Statua omnino C. iamaicensis at duplo minor. Thoracis clypeus rotundatus, obscurus, nitens. Elytra antice ad suturam spinosa, fusca margine late albicante basi obscura. Corpus flavescens.’
Current status. Aspidimorpha (Aspidimorpha) dorsata (Fabricius, 1787).
Remarks. This species was described from the Banks collection and ZIMSEN (1964) mentioned only one specimen. Cassida dorsata was transferred by BOHEMAN (1854) to Aspidimorpha Hope, 1840 and since that time has been used for a common SE Asian species characterized by the elytra having only humeral spots, a sharp, high conical tubercle and elytra often with a dark pattern. However, Boheman most likely never studied the actual type specimen as his concept of A. dorsata is different from the type.
Cassida dorsata sensu Fabricius is conspeci¿c with A. fuscopunctata Boheman, 1854 as well as its synonym A. rubrodorsata Boheman, 1854, and both are here synonymized with it. Due to the new synonymy we restore speci¿c status of Aspidimorpha calligera Boheman, 1854, stat. restit., which had been considered as a junior synonym of A. dorsata. Type specimens of all three discussed species have been examined and lectotype is designated for C. dorsata to avoid further misaplication of this taxon. All references (see BOROWIEC 1999, BOROWIEC & ĜWIĉTOJAēSKA 2014) to A. dorsata since BOHEMAN (1854) therefore refer to A. calligera.
Both species are widely distributed in SE Asia and some specimens are rather dif¿cult to identify without series of properly identi¿ed specimens. Generally, A. dorsata is smaller (8–10 mm) and has body subcircular in outline while A. calligera is larger (9.3–12.6 mm) and has somewhat subtriangular body. Aspidimorpha calligera is a rather continental species which is not abundant in Indonesia (Java and Sumatra); all populations have distinct humeral spots on the explanate margin of elytra and frequently the disc of elytra with some dark markings. Aspidimorpha dorsata is abundantly distributed in both continental and insular Asia; insular populations usually do not have humeral spot on the explanate margin of the elytra and frequently have the disc of the elytra with dark markings, while continental populations usually have the humeral spot on the explanate margin of elyta (like the type) and the disc almost uniformly yellow. For detailed redescriptions, comparative notes, and key see ĜWIĉTOJAēSKA (2001).
description: Published as part of Sekerka, Lukáš & Barclay, Maxwell V. L., 2014, Fabrician types of Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, pp. 657-684 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (2) on page 664, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5302244