Diabrotica fenestralis Jacoby

Species name

Diabrotica fenestralis Jacoby 1879: 791

Type locality

Chontales, Nicaragua

Type depository

MCZ, lectotype, female, verified

Diagnosis

Body length 5.8-5.9 mm. Body width 2.9-3.0 mm. Head basic color black. Antennae filiformfiliform:
slender antennae with antennomeres of similar shape
, bi- or tricolored, antennomeres 1-3 yellow, upper sides darkened, antennomeres 4-8 gradually infuscated, antennomeres 9-10 uniformly yellow ocher, antennomereantennomere:
"segment" of antenna, more or less clearly separated
11 brussels brown. Maxillary palpi black or piceous, labrumlabrum:
the "upper lip" of beetles, a movable sclerite joined under clypeus
black. Pronotumpronotum:
the notum of the prothorax with highly sclerotized pronotal disc
yellow or mustard yellow, subquadrate, weakly bifoveate, with wide shallow foveae, not shagreened. Scutellumscutellum:
small, usually triangular shield between the bases of elytra
black. Mesothoraxmesothorax:
the middle segment of the beetle thorax
black, infuscated or yellow. Metasternummetasternum:
ventral plate of the metathorax
black, metepisternummetepisternum:
anterior part of the metathoracic pleuron before the pleural suture, usually more or less longitudinally extended
black, metepimeronmetepimeron:
posterior part of the metathoracic pleuron, in <em>Diabrotica</em> longitudinally extended between the lateral edge of the metacoxa and the elytron, usually more or less covered by elytron epipleura
black or paler, from yellow ocher to amber brown. Elytra yellow or rufous, with 2-3 black bandsbands:
(here) transverse maculae on the beetle elytra
, connected into ring-shape maculae or reduced to a few spots on each elytronelytron:
<em>(pl. elytra)</em> the fore highly sclerotized wing of beetle
, sometimes the bandsbands:
(here) transverse maculae on the beetle elytra
are completely reduced on the elytral disk. Elytral epipleura completely yellow. Sutural anglesutural angle:
the posterior angle or apex of the elytron near the suture
of elytra round, punctation dense, fine. Abdomen yellow. Tarsi and tibiatibia:
<em>(pl. tibiae)</em> the forth part of the beetle leg articulated with femur on the one side and with tarsus on the other side
black or piceous, profemoraprofemora:
the femora of fore legs
uniform black or piceous. Meso- and metafemorametafemora:
femora of the hind legs
bicolored: apexapex:
<em>(pl. apices)</em> the far distal end of a structure; opposite of base
(approximately 1/3) is darkened with black or brown. Aedeagusaedeagus:
the main sclerotized part of the male genitalia; "aedeagus" is used here instead of "median lobe of aedeagus"
symmetric, with three internal sac scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
.

Known distribution

Nicaragua, Costa Rica

Host plants

Unknown

Remarks

The type specimen of D. fenestralis in the MCZ is female. We studied the paralectotype of D. fenestralis in the Jacoby collection in BMNH. This specimen is a male and it is identical in the coloration with the type female. We treat it as the male of D. fenestralis.

Potential problems with identification

Diabrotica fenestralis Jacoby is very similar to D. morosa Jacoby. They can be separated by the following features: meso- and metafemorametafemora:
femora of the hind legs
of D. fenestralis are bicolored: apexapex:
<em>(pl. apices)</em> the far distal end of a structure; opposite of base
(approximately 1/3) is darkened with black or brown, but the legs are entirely black in D. morosa; number of internal sac has three scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
in D. fenestralis, and four in D. morosa.