Chelobasis Gray 1832

Staines, C. L., 2009, A review of the genus Chelobasis Gray, 1832 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), Zootaxa 2033 (1), pp. 58-68 : 58-59

Chelobasis Gray 1832

Chelobasis Gray 1832: 143 . Type species: Chelobasis bicolor Gray by monotypy. Baly 1885: 31 (distribution); Weise 1905: 320 (distribution), 1910: 99 (distribution), 1911a: 12 (catalog), 1911b: 17 (catalog); Uhmann 1930: 235 ( Costa Rica species), 1957: 33 (catalog); Blackwelder 1946: 721 (faunal list); Papp 1953: 29 (catalog); Wilcox 1975: 138 (catalog); Seeno & Wilcox 1982: 159 (generic catalog); Jolivet & Hawkeswood 1995: 144 (host plants); Staines (1996) 1997: 30 ( Nicaragua species), 2002a: 741 (New World genera); Mexzón 1997: 28 (host plant); Farrell & Sequeira 2004: 175 (evolution); Chaboo 2007: 239 (note).

Generic description. Head: frontal horn truncate at apex; vertex impunctate, depressed between eyes. Antenna: antennomere 1 lengthened into a ventral process which is as long as antennomere 2. Pronotum:

quadrate; anterior margin bisinuate, not deeply bilobed; seta present in each anterior angle; punctate laterally and basally. Scutellum: elongate, triangular. Elytron: margined laterally; apices conjointly rounded; with 10 rows of punctures; non-costate; male without apical appendage. Venter: mesocoxae separated by the diameter of a coxa; prosternal process projecting between mesocoxae; pro- and mesotibiae expanded at apex. Male genitalia: aedeagus curved, apex acute; apical orifice nearly as wide as apex of aedeagus.

Species of Chelobasis are extremely variable in coloration and markings. There have been subspecies and varieties proposed but these are merely color forms and are herein treated as synonyms under each species. The male and female genitalia were examined and found not to have any taxonomic value. Sexual dimorphism is absent.

Biology (from Strong 1983). Chelobasis bicolor Gray and C. perplexa Baly develop in the rolled leaves of various species of Zingiberales . Eggs are laid on wet, tender tissue of the host plant and hatch in about 20 days. Larvae begin feeding in rolled leaves immediately after hatching. Development is slow, requiring at least eight months until pupation. Larvae require more than one leaf-roll to complete development and move from maturing leaf-rolls to more tender leaf-rolls at night. Larvae are water penny-like, but much larger and more elongate than Cephaloleia Chevrolat, 1837 . Adults are polymorphic and long-lived. In marked recapture studies, adult beetles were found up to 18 months after marking. It is assumed that other species in this genus will be found on Zingiberales .