Xenispa Baly, 1858

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2014, Review of Imatidiini genera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (1), pp. 257-314 : 294

Xenispa Baly, 1858 , stat. restit.

( Figs 9–10 )

Xenispa Baly, 1858: 63 . Type species: Xenispa pulchella Baly, 1858 by monotypy.

Distinguishing characters. Xenispa is characterized by having a subquadratic ( Fig. 10 ) or semicircular ( Fig. 9 ) pronotum with an emarginate apical margin above the head, prognathous but not projecting mouthparts, and the serrate lateroapical margins of elytra. Euxema and Katkispa gen. nov. are the only similar genera, but both differ in the apical margin of the pronotum being convex, not emarginate.

Remarks. BALY (1858) proposed the genus for a single species, X. pulchella . WEISE (1910b) synonymized Xenispa with Demotispa and proposed a replacement name, D. magna , for Xenispa pulchella Baly, 1858 , not Demotispa pulchella Baly, 1858 but never examined the type. This was followed until STAINES (2009) transferred D. magna to Parimatidium Spaeth, 1938 , however did not proposed synonymy of Xenispa with Parimatidium nor mentioned existence of that genus, although Xenispa had a priority because of being the older name. STAINES (2009) also transferred all Demotispa species with serrate lateroapical margins of elytra to Parimatidium , however, not a single one of these species is actually congeneric with Parimatidium rubrum , the type species, as it has tarsal claws with basal tooth while all transferred species have simple tarsal claws. Hence, I restore the status of Xenispa which has serrate lateroapical margins of the elytra, simple tarsal claws, and metallic elytra. Some species transferred here to Xenispa have to be considered as tentative placements, as I did not examine their types (see Table 1).

Xensipa species can be divided into two groups on the basis of pronotal shape, thus is placed doubly in the key. About eight species have semicircular pronota ( Fig. 9 ) while the rest, including the type species, have subquadratic and parallel-sided pronota ( Fig. 10 ). Species with subquadratic pronota can be further split in to two groups, one with broadly explanate margins of the pronotum and the other with narrow margins of the pronotum. However, other morphological features as well as their biology are similar, thus I retain all the species in the same genus.

Species transferred to Xenispa . See Table 1.

Number of species. 33 (present paper).

Biology. So far, only three species have published host plant associations, two with bambusoid Poaceae ( UHMANN 1959, MESKINS et al. 2008) and one with Arecaceae ( BONDAR 1940b) . Based on our ¿eld observations it seems that most species are associated with various bambusoid Poaceae , mainly Chusquea and Guadua species (Windsor & Sekerka, unpubl. data).

Key to species. UHMANN (1937b) covered eight species in a key to Demotispa .

Distribution. Costa Rica to southern Brazil.

Figures

Figs 1–11. Dorsal habitus. 1 – Homalispa batesii Baly, 1858, French Guyana: Mt. Kaw; 2 – Cyclantispa gracilis (Baly, 1885), Panama: La Fortuna; 3 –Xanthispa cimicoides (Guérin-Méneville, 1844), French Guyana: Le Larivot; 4 – Imatidium thoracicum Fabricius, 1801, Ecuador: Cascada San Rafael; 5 – Aslamidium (s. str.) capense (Herbst, 1799), French Guyana: Fourgassie; 6 – Aslamidium (Neoaslamidium) pichinchaensis Borowiec, 1998, Ecuador: Puerto Misahuallí; 7 – Calliaspis sachaensis Borowiec & Stojczew, 1998, Ecuador: Shushu¿ndi; 8 – Spaethaspis lloydi Hincks, 1952, Ecuador: Río Puno. 9 – Xenispa testaceicornis (Pic, 1926), Bolivia: Refugio Los Volcanes; 10 – Xenispa costaricensis (Uhmann, 1930), Panama:La Fortuna;11 – Euxema insignis Baly, 1858, syntype, Panama: Volcan de Barú. All scale bars = 2.5 mm.