Breaking Apterism in Elytrosphaera Blanchard 1845: New Synonymy, Generic Transfer, Redescription of the Only Winged Species, Grammodesma luridipennis (Baly 1859) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae), with Comparative Morphological Comments
Abstract In this study, we transfer Grammodesma luridipennis (Baly 1859) to Elytrosphaera Blanchard 1845 and redescribe the species. Elytrosphaera lahtivirtai Bechyně, 1951 is proposed as a new junior synonym of E. luridipennis . Hind wings are documented for the first time in E. luridipennis , making it the only species of Elytrosphaera currently known to be winged. Male and female genitalia are described for the first time. We provide morphological and distributional data for E. luridipennis , including external morphology and wing venation. In addition, we compare the morphology of Grammodesma and Elytrosphaera , highlighting diagnostic characters that distinguish the two genera, and distinguish E. luridipennis from Grammodesma rubroaenea (Stål, 1859), one of the Grammodesma species most similar to E. luridipennis in coloration. We also compare E. luridipennis with Elytrosphaera xanthoptera xanthoptera (Gistel, 1848), highlighting diagnostic differences between these taxa.
Authors
- José Albertíno Rafael (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0170-0514)
- Aline Sampaio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7463-6461)
Institutions
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (BR)
- Central University of Venezuela (VE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Neotropical Entomology
- Published
- 2026-09-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-026-01434-2
- Primary Topic
- Coleoptera Taxonomy and Distribution
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00