Revision of Ootheca Chevrolat, 1837 from tropical Africa—redescriptions, descriptions of new species and identification key (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae)

Abstract

The Afrotropical species of Ootheca Chevrolat, 1837 are revised based on examination of 9560 specimens. Crioceris mutabilis Sahlberg, 1829, the type species, is redescribed including comprehensive illustrations of its external and genitalic characters. Synonymy with Ergana Chapuis, 1879 is confirmed. Genitalic structures, in particular the median lobe, allow reliable species identification in this genus. Of the 33 species originally described in Ootheca and Ergana, eleven remain in Ootheca, with four new synonymies, resulting in the following nine valid species: O. mutabilis (Sahlberg, 1829) (= Malacosoma bicolor Allard, 1889 syn. nov.; = O. punctata Laboissière, 1931 syn. nov.); O. proteus (Chapuis, 1879) (= E. bifrons Laboissière, 1937 syn. nov.); O. chapuisi (Jacoby, 1899); O. bennigseni Weise, 1900 (= E. variceps Laboissière, 1939 syn. nov.); O. orientalis Weise, 1900; O. kibonotensis Weise, 1909; O. variabilis (Laboissière, 1920); O. frontalis Laboissière, 1923, O. meridiana Grobbelaar, 2008. Four species are herein described as new: O. eddae sp. n., O. julianae sp. n., O. tilmani sp. n., and O. ugandae sp. n. Redescriptions or descriptions are given for each of the 13 species, including illustrations of habitus outline, colouration, shape of basal antennomeres and the median lobe. Studied material is listed in detail, photographs of the primary types, distribution maps and a key are given. The 22 remaining described species from Ootheca have been previously transferred to other genera or will be in subsequent publications.