Diabrotica adelpha Harold 1875
Creators: name: Derunkov, A.
name: Konstantinov, A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Diabrotica
Diabrotica adelpha

description: Diabrotica adelpha Harold 1875
(Figs 1–15)
adelpha Harold 1875: 92 (type locality: Guatemala; type depository: MNHN, lectotype, female, designated by Smith and Lawrence 1967: 30).
flaviventris Jacoby 1887: 517 (type locality: Mexico, San Juan Bautista; type depository: BMNH, lectotype, female, designated by Smith and Lawrence 1967: 67). New synonym
picticornis Horn 1893: 90 (type locality: Texas, USA; type depository: ANSP, holotype, female), synonym of Diabrotica tibialis Jacoby (Smith 1966).
tibialis Jacoby 1887: 512 (type locality: Mexico, Jalapa; type depository: BMNH, lectotype, female, designated by Smith and Lawrence 1967: 132). New synonym
Material examined. Diabrotica adelpha: Lectotype female (MNHN): 1) [Guatemala]; 2) [adelpha m. typ.]; 3) [Ex Musaeo E. Harold]; 4) [Lectotype Diabrotica adelpha Harold]. 1 male (MNHN): 1) [Diabrotica adelpha Harold]; 2) [Ex Musaeo Quedenfeldt]. 1 male (USNM): [on Cucurbits Antigua Guat. 16-VI-50 I E Melhus]. 1 male (USNM): [on corn Antigua Guat. 16-VI-50 I E Melhus]. 1 female (USNM): [on corn Antigua Guat. 15-VI-50 I E Melhus]. 1 male (USNM): 1) [on cucumber Antigua Guat. I E Melhus 19-VI-50 -8547]; 2) [USNM]. 1 male and 1 female (USNM): 1) [Honduras: EAP, 30 km E Tegucigalpa 7-III-1979 Coll. Jamie Inashima]; 2) [ex frijoles]; 3) [madurez fisiologico]; 4) [Diabrotica adelpha Harold Det. J. Krysan 1995]. 3 females (USNM): 1) [Sig. Hond 10- 5-79 № 19536 Coll. M. Paz Z.]; 2) [Diabrotica adelpha Harold Det. J. Krysan 1995].
Diabrotica flaviventris: Lectotype female (BMNH): 1) [type]; 2)[San Juan Bautista, Tabasco. Höge]; 3) [Godman-Salvin Coll., Biol. Centr.-Amer.]; 4) [Lectotype Diabrotica flaviventris Jac RFS]. Seven paralectotypes with same labels as lectotype (BMNH), 4 males (genitalia dissected), 3 females. Twelve specimens (MCZ): 5 paralectotypes: [Teleman, Vera Paz, Champion] (1 male, 1 female), [Panzos, Vera Paz, Champion] (1 male), [Tlalcotalpam, Mex. Salle coll.] (1 female), [Tlalcotalpam, Vera Cruz, Höge] (1 female); 4 males and 3 females.
One male (USNM): 1) [177]; 2) [Tuxiepec Oax. Mex. Oct. 1933 Moises Fraire]; 3) [Lectotype Homoparatype Diabrotica flaviventris Jac MCZ Det. J. Krysan’95]. One female (USNM): 1) [241]; 2) [241.] 3) [Tuxiepec Oax. Mex. Oct. 1933 Moises Fraire]; 3) [Homoparalectotype Diabrotica flaviventris Jac MCZ Det. J. Krysan’95].
Diabrotica tibialis: Lectotype female (BMNH): 1) [lectotype]; 2) [Jalapa, Mexico. Hoege.]; 3) [Godman- Salvin Coll., Biol. Centr.-Amer.]; 4) [Type. Sp. figured.]; [D. tibialis, Jac.]; 5) [Lectotype Diabrotica tibialis Jac. R.F.S.]. Paralectotypes 2 males, 1 female (BMNH): 1) [paralectotype]; 2) [Jalapa, Mexico. Hoege.]; 3) [Godman- Salvin Coll., Biol. Centr.-Amer.]; 4) [Lectoparatype Diabrotica tibialis Jac RFS]. Paralectotype male (MCZ): 1) [Type 17624]; 2) [Jalapa, Mexico. Hoege.]; 3) [tibialis Jac]; 4) [1st Jacoby Coll.]; 5) [Lectoparatype Diabrotica tibialis Jac]. Paralectotypes 1 male, 3 females (MCZ): 1) [Jalapa, Mexico. Hoege.]; 2) [1st Jacoby Coll.]; 3) [Lectoparatype Diabrotica tibialis Jac]. Paralectotypes 2 females (MCZ): 1) [Colima city. Mexico. Höge.]; 2) [1st Jacoby Coll.]; 3) [Lectoparatype Diabrotica tibialis Jac].
Smith and Lawrence (1967) recognized the only specimen (female) of D. adelpha in the Allard collection in the MNHN as a part of Harold’s original series. They designated it as the lectotype. The male in the Allard collection (MNHN), bearing labels (1) [Diabrotica adelpha Harold] handwritten and (2) [Ex Musaeo Quedenfeldt] white, printed, is morphologically identical with the lectotype, except for gender-specific characters. We treat it as the male of D. adelpha and examined its genitalia (Figs 3–5). Male genitalia have been examined in six paralectotype males of D. flaviventris and 4 paralectotype males of D. tibialis (BMNH and MCZ). Male genitalia of additional specimens of all three taxa in the USNM collection have been examined as well. The armament of the internal sac of the aedeagus is identical in all three taxa. In addition, they are very similar in the coloration patterns. Jacoby (1887: 511) wrote: “This [D. adelpha] and several of the following species [D. tibialis, D. brunneosignata, etc.] are extremely closely allied, their characters of distinction being slight and variable”. The only two substantial differences in coloration between the lectotype females of D. adelpha and D. tibialis are as follow: in D. adelpha, the pronotum and tibiae are yellow or yellow ocher (Fig. 2); in D. tibialis, the pronotum is testaceous, while the tibiae are black or chestnut (Fig. 11). After studying large series of these two taxa, we recognized a few transitional coloration patterns of the tibiae from uniformly yellow through bicolored (yellow, outer edge with piceous or testaceous line, sometimes extensively darkened) to uniformly black or chestnut. The outlines of the elytral bands of all three taxa are very similar as well. Diabrotica flaviventris with almost entirely testaceous elytra, is probably a melanistic color morph of D. adelpha. No substantial differences exist in the body size or shape of all three species. Therefore, we treat D. tibialis and D. flaviventris as synonyms of D. adelpha.
description: Published as part of Derunkov, A. & Konstantinov, A., 2013, Taxonomic changes in the genus Diabrotica Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae): results of a synopsis of North and Central America Diabrotica species, pp. 301-325 in Zootaxa 3686 (3) on pages 302-306, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3686.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/247089