Chrysobothris viridiceps Melsheimer 1845

Chrysobothris viridiceps Melsheimer, 1845

(Figs 6, 18, 30)

Chrysobothris lesueuri Gory & Laporte, 1837: 49 new synonym

Chrysobothris viridiceps Melsheimer l845: 147 (Vogt 1949: 197; Franklin & Lund 1956: 34; Nelson & Westcott 1976: 227; Wellso, et al. 1976: 11; Nelson, et al. 1981:143; Bright 1987: 190; MacRae 1991: 112; Nelson et al. 1996: 188

Since the name Chrysobothris lesueuri Gory & Laporte (1837) has been rarely used in literature or collections, we have decided to retain the name currently in use, Chrysobothris viridiceps Melsheimer (1845). A petition will be submitted to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature to ask that this name be given precedence over its unused senior synonym. The type of C. viridiceps Melsheimer cannot be found and is lost; therefore, a neotype is designated herein for Chrysobothris viridiceps Melsheimer..

Description. Neotype male: Head with frons mostly greenish, nearly flat, evenly punctate with long cream colored setae, more dense below the first antennomere. Antennae greenish dorsally with antennomeres 4 – 11 being pale yellow on outer margin, last antennomere slightly smaller than others. Small irregular-shaped transverse callosite between the eyes, frons rusty colored dorsally. Clypeus green with black border, semicircularly.rounded on each side of medium groove. Labrum green. Occiput with broad smooth, grooved longitudinal carina forming a Y anteriorly. Pronotum anterior margin sinuate and less than twice as wide as long, widest at basal 4/5, and laterally somewhat sinuate toward base. Disc slightly convex, irregularly punctate, with shallow median longitudinal depression not reaching apical margin, deeper in the middle and near the base, raised areas lateral to median depression. Disc brown with central greenish tint, and reddish along lateral margins. Elytra distinctly wider than pronotum, basally rounded then subparallel to widest at basal %, lateral margin serrulate from basal 2/5 to apex with serrulations largest apically. Four distinct raised longitudinal costae, first three costae arise behind the humeral area: 1st -near lateral margin parallel with it ending about 9/10 distance from apex, 2nd -joins the 3rd costae about 5/6 distance from base, 3rd -arises closer to base than 1st and 2nd costae and ends near apex, and 4th -is parallel to sutural margin ends at apex. Elytra with two basal pits and three brassy fovea: 1st - just anterior to middle of the elytra and bisected by the 3rd costa, 2nd - fovea bisected by the 2nd costa, 3rd -fovea less bronze between the 3rd and 4th costae at the basal 4/5. Underside: bronze, with white setae, with small raised lateral callosites on abdominal ventrites 2 to 5. Last ventrite semicircularly emarginate. Profemur and tibia greenish bronze. Inner margin of protibia with row of five small teeth. Male genitalia (Fig. 16) with parameres unequal in length and sides broadly round sloping uniformly from base to apex. Male genitalia mounted on point below beetle. Length 10.7 mm, width 4.2 mm Neotype here designated, male, labeled: PENNSYLVANIA, Philadelphia, 3-VII-1912, G. M. Greene Collector, Geo M Greene collection. (Light green label, deposited in USNM).

Female: Overall brown, frons between the eyes with irregular raised transverse area larger laterally. Clypeus, antennae, and legs brown, labrum cupreous. Pygidium relatively flat on each side of the median carina (Fig.30). Length 12.6 mm, width 4.9 mm. PENNSYLVANIA, Twin Lakes, 12-VIII-1947, A. Nicolay. (deposited in USNM).

Hosts. Reared from Carya illinoinensis (Wang.) K. Koch., Prosopis glandulosa Torr., Quercus alba Linnaeus, Q. grisea Liebm., Q. macrocarpa Michaux, Q. stellata Wangenh., and Ulmus crassicola Nutt. (Westcott, 2001).

Distribution. This common species probably occurs in all states east of the Continental Divide and in Canada, specimens have not been seen from North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. NEW STATE RECORDS: INDIANA: Tippecanoe Co., 14-VI-87, S. G. Wellso. KENTUCKY: Estill Co., VII-84, J. Dunn. MARYLAND: Rockville, 19-VI-88, J. E. Zablotny. WISCONSIN: Portage Co., Stevens Pt., 24-VI- 96, S. G. Wellso.

Comments. Both sexes: pronotum without raised areas, uniformly punctate, elytra costae linear and distinct, brilliant bronze foveae arranged in somewhat imperfect circular pattern (Fig. 5). Underside: in both sexes, usually first abdominal ventrite projecting anteriorad between metacoxae, tinted greenish. Male clypeus greenish. Males: 7.2 – 11.0 mm long, 3.1 – 4.5 mm wide. Female: clypeus copperish-brown, margin usually brown (a few greenish). Females: 7.9 – 12.4 mm long, 3.3 – 5.4 mm wide.

An unusual male with a brilliant reddish-copper frons, antennomeres burnt orange instead of yellow, with typical elytral pattern and genitalia, was reared from Quercus grisea Liebm., TX: Jeff Davis Co., Madera Canyon, Davis Mts., 11-20-V-83, R. Turnbow. A few specimens collected on oak at Bastrop, Texas are similar in facial coloration to the Jeff Davis Co. beetle, but the antennomeres are dull yellow.