Diabrotica militaris Jacoby

Species name

Diabrotica militaris Jacoby 1887: 516

Type locality

Panima, Vera Paz, Guatemala

Type depository

BMNH, lectotype, male, verified

Diagnosis

Body length 7.1-7.3 mm. Body width 3.5-3.7 mm. Head basic color black. Antennae filiformfiliform:
slender antennae with antennomeres of similar shape
, bi- or tricolored, antennomeres 2-3 yellow, upper sides darkened, antennomeres 4-8 uniformly brussels brown, antennomeres 9-10 yellow ocher, antennomereantennomere:
"segment" of antenna, more or less clearly separated
11 dark apically. Maxillary palpi and 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, shagreened with microsculptural narrow, long meshes basally. Scutellumscutellum:
small, usually triangular shield between the bases of elytra
black or amber brown. Elytra yellow or rufous, with two metallic black green bandsbands:
(here) transverse maculae on the beetle elytra
, one on base of elytronelytron:
<em>(pl. elytra)</em> the fore highly sclerotized wing of beetle
, another - behind middle. As a rule, basalbasal:
of or pertaining to the base, as in the first, or basal segment of an appendage; opposite of apical
band bears one small round yellow spot on each elytronelytron:
<em>(pl. elytra)</em> the fore highly sclerotized wing of beetle
. Apicalapical:
of or pertaining to the apex; opposite of basal
band with apically directed triangular process outside. 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 or yellow ocher. Tarsi yellow or yellow ocher. Tibiae bicolored, yellow, outer edge with piceous or testaceous line, or extensively darkened. Femora uniform yellow or yellow ocher. Aedeagusaedeagus:
the main sclerotized part of the male genitalia; "aedeagus" is used here instead of "median lobe of aedeagus"
symmetric, with five internal sac scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
.

Known distribution

Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Panama

Host plants

Unknown

Potential problems with identification

Diabrotica militaris Jacoby is very similar to D. m1n, D. m2n and D. fasciata Kirsch. They can be separated by the following features: band color is metallic black green in D. militaris, but metallic black blue in D. m1n and D. m2n; round yellow spot on the basalbasal:
of or pertaining to the base, as in the first, or basal segment of an appendage; opposite of apical
band is larger in D. militaris than in D. m1n; tibiae in D. militaris are paler than in all other species; the size and the shape of the band edges is different in all four species. The shape of the internal sac scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
allows distinguishing Diabrotica militaris from all other species.