Melanispa Baly, 1858

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2014, Review of Imatidiini genera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (1), pp. 257-314 : 285

Melanispa Baly, 1858

( Fig. 21 )

Melanispa Baly, 1858: 30 . Type species: Melanispa truncata Baly, 1858 by monotypy.

Distinguishing characters. Melanispa can be easily distinguished from all other Imatidiini genera by the strongly trapezoidal and anteriorly narrowing pronotum with straight lateral sides ( Fig. 21 ) and a tubercle with a seta situated in the anterior corners, while other genera have the pronotum semicircular, subquadratic, or widening anteriorly and the tubercle with the seta situated internally of the anterior corners. It also has strongly depressed elytra with truncate apices and the pygidium not visible from above. Parentispa gen. nov. and some Cephaloleia species also have truncate apices of the elytra but differ in the pygidium being visible from above and in the shape of the pronotum.

Remarks. ZAYAS (1960) described M. bicolor Zayas, 1960 from Cuba which remained enigmatic to all subsequent authors. Mike Ivie (Montana, USA) kindly provided me with photographs of the holotype, preserved in the private collection of the Zayas family in Cuba, which is currently inaccessible. The specimen is rather strange and does not remind me any of the described genera, however, the quality of the photo is not suf¿cient to make accurate observations thus examination of specimen would be necessary for correct placement of this taxon. It has a broadly trapezoidal and densely punctate pronotum, metallic blue-violet and convex elytra with rounded apices, and thus I am convinced that the species belong to a different genus. Therefore I consider M. bicolor as Imatidiini genus incertae sedis, until I have opportunity to study the type specimen or new material is available.

Number of species. Monotypic ( UHMANN 1957a, present paper).

Biology. Nothing is known about the biology of Melanispa , however, based on its flattened body it might feed on palms.

Distribution. Guadeloupe.

Figures

Figs 12–24. Dorsal habitus. 18 – Katkispa insignis (Pic, 1934), syntype, Venezuela: Colonia Tovar; 13 – Weiseispa angusticollis (Weise, 1893), Ecuador: Río Palenque; 14 – Demotispa pulchella Baly, 1858, lectotype, Peru; 15 – Demotispa rubiginosa (Boheman, 1862), Panama: Chiriquí; 16 – Parimatidium rubrum (Boheman, 1850), French Guyana:St. Laurent du Maroni;17 – Pseudostilpnaspis lata (Baly, 1885), Panama:Santa Clara; 18 – Pseudimatidium elaeicola Aslam, 1966, Colombia: Calima area; 19 – Windsorispa latifrons (Weise, 1910), Colombia: SantoAntonio; 20 – Cephaloleia Àavipennis Baly, 1869, Ecuador: Río Hollín; 21 – Melanispa sp., Guadeloupe; 22 – Parentispa formosa (Staines, 1996), Panama: La Fortuna; 23 – Stenispa attenuata Baly, 1875, Panama: Gamboa; 24 – Lechispa parallela (Pic, 1930), syntype, Argentina: Rosas. All scale bars = 2.5 mm.