Diabrotica morosa Jacoby

Species name

Diabrotica morosa Jacoby 1887: 503

Type locality

Guatemala

Type depository

BMNH, lectotype, male, verified

Synonyms

fraterna Baly 1879: 79 [junior, primary homonym of fraterna Baly 1859: 272] (type locality: Guatemala; type depository: BMNH, lectotype, male, verified)

fraudigera Weise 1921: 85 (replacement name for fraterna Baly 1879: 79, not Baly 1859: 272)

Diagnosis

Body length 6.5-6.8 mm. Body width 3.1-3.4 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 and 11 brussels brown, antennomeres 9-10 light cadmium. 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, nonfoveate, shagreened with minute tubercles. Scutellumscutellum:
small, usually triangular shield between the bases of elytra
black. Elytra yellow or rufous, with three black bandsbands:
(here) transverse maculae on the beetle elytra
, connected into four ring-shape maculae on each elytronelytron:
<em>(pl. elytra)</em> the fore highly sclerotized wing of beetle
, three of them on the discdisc:
the middle, more uniform area of a structure (usually elytra or pronotum) which is visible dorsally
and one on the side before the middle. Elytral epipleura completely black or tinged with piceous, sutural anglesutural angle:
the posterior angle or apex of the elytron near the suture
of elytra round, punctation dense, coarse. Abdomen yellow. Legs black. Aedeagusaedeagus:
the main sclerotized part of the male genitalia; "aedeagus" is used here instead of "median lobe of aedeagus"
symmetric, with four internal sac scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
.

Known distribution

Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica.

Host plants

Unknown

Remarks

Smith and Lawrence (1967) noted that the lectotype of Diabrotica fraterna Baly, 1879 is a female. We studied the lectotype and found that it is a male.

Potential problems with identification

Diabrotica morosa Jacoby is similar to D. lacordairei Kirsch and D. matina Bechyné. They can be separated by the following features: in D. lacordairei procoxaprocoxa:
the first segment of fore legs
, mesocoxamesocoxa:
the first segment of middle legs
, mesosternummesosternum:
ventral plate of the mesothorax
, mesepisternummesepisternum:
anterior part of the mesothoracic pleuron before the pleural suture
, mesepimeronmesepimeron:
posterior part of the mesothoracic pleuron
and 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
are yellow, while in D. matina mesosternummesosternum:
ventral plate of the mesothorax
and mesepisternummesepisternum:
anterior part of the mesothoracic pleuron before the pleural suture
yellow and in D. morosa procoxaprocoxa:
the first segment of fore legs
, mesocoxamesocoxa:
the first segment of middle legs
, mesosternummesosternum:
ventral plate of the mesothorax
, mesepisternummesepisternum:
anterior part of the mesothoracic pleuron before the pleural suture
and mesepimeronmesepimeron:
posterior part of the mesothoracic pleuron
are black or brussels brown, 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 darken with brown (from yellow ocher to amber brown); in D. morosa legs are completely black, while in D. lacordairei and D. matina femora are bicolored. Diabrotica morosa is more slender and substantially smaller than D. lacordairei.