Diabrotica venancia Bechyne

Species name

Diabrotica venancia Bechyné 1958: 556

Type locality

Costa Rica, Turrialba

Type depository

NMB, holotype, female, verified

Diagnosis

Body length 6.8-7.2 mm. Body width 3.4-3.6 mm. Head basic color black. Antennae filiformfiliform:
slender antennae with antennomeres of similar shape
, bi- or tricolored, antennomereantennomere:
"segment" of antenna, more or less clearly separated
1 sulphur yellow, antennomeres 2-3 yellow, upper sides darkened, antennomeres 4-8 cinnamon brown, antennomeres 9-10 yellow ocher, antennomereantennomere:
"segment" of antenna, more or less clearly separated
11 cinnamon brown. Maxillary palpi yellow or amber yellow, 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 ochraceous-orange, subquadrate, nonfoveate, not shagreened. Scutellumscutellum:
small, usually triangular shield between the bases of elytra
black. Elytra yellow or rufous, maculatemaculate:
(here) marked by maculae or patches of a different shape and size, usually clearly separated from each other
, with six sharp-edged black spots on each elytronelytron:
<em>(pl. elytra)</em> the fore highly sclerotized wing of beetle
. Elytral epipleura completely yellow, sutural anglesutural angle:
the posterior angle or apex of the elytron near the suture
of elytra obtuse-angled, punctation dense, fine. Abdomen yellow or yellow ocher. Tarsi and tibiae black, femora 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

Costa Rica, Panama

Host plants

Unknown

Potential problems with identification

Diabrotica venancia Bechyné is very similar to D. relicta Suffrian. They can be separated by the armament of the internal sac: there are five scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
in internal sac in D. venancia, but four in D. relicta. The shape of the internal sac scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
allows distinguishing Diabrotica venancia from D. relicta too.