Palonica albidorsata (Fowler), new combination, reinstated from synonomy

(Fig. 1 G)

Synonymy.

Telamona albidorsata Fowler 1896d: 145; table 9, figs. 8, 8a; reinstated as a valid species. Holotype: BMNH (Broomfield 1971).

Diagnosis. Pronotal color dark brown, with numerous cream-colored maculations. Pronotal projection pyramidal and highly elevated from lateral view, smoothly textured, anterior overhanging lobe absent; dorsal carina white stripe wide and extending from pronotal projection to near tip of posterior process.

Distribution: Rinconada, Veracruz, Mexico (Fowler 1896d).

Notes. Palonica albidorsata (Fowler), previously considered a junior synonym of Telamona excelsa (Fairmaire) by Ball (1931; as Helonica excelsa), is here reinstated as valid based on the comparison of photographs of the type material of both taxa. As a result of this new combination and reinstatement, the genus Palonica now contains 7 species (Table 1).

Ball (1931) reasoned that the type of Telamona albidorsata from Veracruz, Mexico (Fig. 1 G), illustrated and described by Fowler (1896d), was the same entity as Telamona excelsa (as Helonica excelsa) based on a description and illustration of the holotype of Thelia excelsa by Fowler (1896 c: as Telamona excelsa; table 9, figs. 4, 4a). As evidence for his synonymy, Ball cited that both T. albidorsata and some “narrow crested males” of T. excelsa share the following features: a white line on the dorsal margin of the posterior pronotum, and a slight obtuse angle between the pronotal projection and the posterior process. Ball did, however, admit that these two entities exhibited extremes in width of the pronotal projection; the type of Thelia excelsa had a very wide projection and T. albidorsata had a very narrow projection. It is unclear if Ball relied on the Mexican type of T. excelsa or specimens of the North American entity (e.g., Telamona projecta, herein) in his comparison to T. albidorsata.

The present author examined a photograph of the holotype of Palonica albidorsata (Fig. 1 G) and it bears little resemblance to Telamona excelsa or T. projecta in color or pronotal shape. The white band on the dorsal carina of P. albidorsata is very wide; the band is absent in T. excelsa and much narrower and shorter in T. projecta. Although the angle between the pronotal projection and posterior process is slightly obtuse in P. albidorsata and T. projecta, the pronotal projection of P. albidorsata has no anterior overhanging lobe. T. excelsa is yellow-green in color while P. albidorsata is dark brown, similar to T. projecta.

Based on the pyramidal shape of the pronotal projection (Fig. 1 G), this species is tentatively placed in the telamonine genus Palonica, where other Neotropical telamonines, like Palonica satyrus (Fowler) (Fig. 1 H), have been placed. Future phylogenetic studies should include all known Neotropical telamonine species to better ascertain their generic placement and evolutionary relationships.