Black leaf beetle with orange spots, Tatama National Park, Colombia

Passalidea. Overall black, ridged abdomen. The angle blocks part of the view, but I believe there are three rows of dots, first 2 rows clearly showing 4 per row. I'm hoping this one gets the attention from enthusiasts here :)

comments (4)

Pudding4brains

Lion

Something Doryphora/Platyphora-ish but most of those don't have the deep grooves in the elytra ... ??

P.S. In the BCA there is an image of "Doryphora 10 stillata" that comes very close (fig.21 bottom left):
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/bca/bca_12_06_01s/plates/bca_12_06_01s_398.jpg
@BHL Plate : https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/584821
@BHL Text : https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/585588
Original description : https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15959324
Different description: https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10811682
Really old stuff and fairly inconclusive (and Mexico, not Colombia) but I do think it is the general direction ... Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks once more, Arp. Looks like we're in inconclusive waters indeed. Understandable, as this part of Colombia hasn't been traveled much in the last decades. That fig 21 looks promising indeed, I'm trying to find a photo of it, to no avail. Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Pudding4brains
    
    Lion
    
    It seems to me that you have been venturing into areas where there may well be quite a few either undescribed or rarely spotted/photographed critters that may well be "variants" of species known from elsewhere or species in their own right.
    For this beetle (and for the black-and-white one) another photographer has shot very similar (but just a tad different!) beetles in Tatama too, raising the question if these are the same or just lookalikes/mimics. Here is the lookalike for this one:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/76033499@N00/29471686192
    The drawing of the one from Mexico in the BCA has all black antennae for one thing, the two from Colombia have white tips, but the two from Tatama also seem to differ somewhat in the spots and in the depth of the puncture grooves and maybe even the number or spacing of these(?!?).
    The habitus of the pronotum should indicate Doryphora if I understand the literature correctly, but the person on Flickr has it down as Platyphora (but with a question mark).
    My access (travelling) to museum collections is a bit limited at the moment, partly due to the Naturalis tower being closed for a few years due to building activities at the museum, but also because it's becoming harder to leave my "care buddy" (90 and handicapped) alone for more than a day or two at a time to travel to musea further away and I don't think the museum in Enschede has an extensive Neotropical beetle collection.
    
    Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      No worries, Arp, it's very impressive what research you have done, and its OK if we can't get further than the genus level. Best of luck! Posted 7 years ago

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