Sphaeroderma

Prathapan, Kaniyarikkal D., Poorani, Janakiraman, Kumari, S. Amritha, Anuradha, C., Balakrishnan Padmanaban, & Thanigairaj, Ramalingam, 2019, Species composition and diagnoses of leaf- and fruit-scarring beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) infesting bananas and plantains (Zingiberales, Musaceae) in the Indian subcontinent, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 66 (2), pp. 179-202 : 179

Sphaeroderma spp.

Notes.

Unidentified species of Sphaeroderma Stephens have been reported from Laos as defoliators of banana ( Dean 1978; Hill 2008; Vansilalom 2016). We collected a new species of Sphaeroderma feeding on banana from the state of Meghalaya, northeastern region of India, during our surveys, which is described and illustrated here.

Generic diagnosis.

Small to medium sized flea beetles, convex and broadly oval. Red brown to black with or without spots or stripes on elytra. Head hypognathous, frontal ridge raised, forming T-shaped ridge with apical margin of head capsule. Antennal calli well delineated by sulci, supracallinal sulcus deep. Pronotum broader than long, without impressions or furrows. Posterior margin bisinuate with a lobe in middle. Procoxal cavity open behind. Anterolateral corners of pronotum not greatly produced forward. Metatibia dorsally flat or concave, with lateral and mesal margins forming ridge. Third tarsomere broad, its anterior margin entire, not bilobed. First metatarsomere short, not longer than next two combined. Intercoxal part of first abdominal ventrite truncate. Vaginal palpi broader than long.