The Hippiscus group (including Xanthippus, Heliastus, and Leprus - the ones in your region) are among my favorites. I kept a Xanthippus corallipes as a pet with a string for a leash when I was a little kid one summer, and it lived for months (didn't know it's name then, just that it was really cool). To me they are beautiful creatures with lots of personality.

The comparison photo is not far off. It is a very close relative, and some would put them in the same genus [I'm inclined to do so; perhaps both into Hippiscus. Cratypedes is very close too.], but in most literature they are treated as separate genera. Pardalophora phoenicoptera is an eastern species, and Xanthippus corallipes is western. I doubt there is any place they meet (except in photo albums and collectioins), but they might somewhere near the east edge of the Plains. The main distinction is that Xanthippus usually has the crest of the pronotum notched twice, and Pardalophora once. It is easier to see in adults, and there are individuals that break the "rule". Coloration of adults is somewhat different too.

Your specimen would be ssp. pantherinus, though you are not far from the nebulous zone of change (north of you) where they blend into almost identical ssp. corallipes.

Sorry, accidentally posted nothing, and now can't get rid of it - thus the explanation - sorry

I have incorporated your informative comments into both species guides.