Diabrotica pulchra (Sahlberg)

Species name

Diabrotica pulchra Sahlberg 1823: 68 as Crioceris

Type locality

Honduras, Americae Septentrionalis

Type depository

The types are probably lost

Synonyms

albosignata Baly 1886a: 453 (type locality: Guatemala; type depository: BMNH, lectotype, female, verified)

Diagnosis

Body length 5.5-6.6 mm. Body width 2.8-3.2 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 brussels brown, antennomeres 9-10 light cadmium, 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 light cadmium, subquadrate, nonfoveate or deeply bifoveate, only pronotumpronotum:
the notum of the prothorax with highly sclerotized pronotal disc
base shagreened with microsculptural narrow, long meshes. Scutellumscutellum:
small, usually triangular shield between the bases of elytra
yellow. Elytra yellow or rufous, with four transverse metallic black blue bandsbands:
(here) transverse maculae on the beetle elytra
. Elytral epipleura darkened basally from 1/3 to ½ of the lenghts or completely yellow. Sutural anglesutural angle:
the posterior angle or apex of the elytron near the suture
of elytra round, punctation scattered, 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

Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala

Host plants

Unknown

Potential problems with identification

Diabrotica pulchra (Sahlberg) is very similar to D. p2n, D. p3n and D. p4n. They can be separated by the following features: there are five internal sac scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
in D. pulchra, bur four scleritessclerites:
(here) the sclerotized hooks, spines or plates in the internal sac
in D. p2n; D. pulchra has yellow femora, but D. p2n has black legs, D. p3n has yellow legs and D. p4n has bicolored femora.