Chaeridiona picea Baly

Staines, C. L., 2007, A review of the genus Chaeridiona Baly, 1869 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae), Zootaxa 1521 (1), pp. 19-29 : 25

Chaeridiona picea Baly

Figure 5

Chaeridiona picea Baly 1869: 382 [Syntype: Type H. T. (white disk with red border)/ Baly coll./ Chaeridiona picea Baly , India (pale blue card) (BMNH)]. Uhmann 1958: 252, 1964: 466 (catalog); Monrós 1959: 31 (illustration); Würmli 1976: 403 (revision); Basu 1999: 163 (comparative note); Świętojaṅska et al. 2006:51 (larva, pupa, host plant).

Choeridiona picea Baly. Donckier 1899: 571 (catalog); Weise 1911a: 49, 1911b: 73 (catalog); Maulik 1919: 87 ( India species); Staines 2002a: 17 (type specimen); Kalaichelvan & Verma 2005: 1840 (faunal list).

Body oblong; convex; piceous; pronotum and elytra with slight metallic purplish tinge; apex of elytra dark brown; antennomeres I–II, coxae, and venter dark brown; legs light brown or yellowish. Head: coarsely punctate; front with angular projection, the apex extends downward into a longitudinal carina ending at base of clypeus. Antenna: antennomeres I and II robust, subequal in length, punctate. Pronotum: subcylindrical; quadrate; parallel-sided; lateral margin slightly sinuate behind middle, with minute tooth near base, margined (more widely than in C. metallica ); anterior angle slightly notched, with short tooth; surface coarsely rugosepunctate, deeply excavated on disc; pronotal width 0.9 mm; pronotal length 0.9 mm. Scutellum: elongate; smooth; shining; impunctate; narrowing to apex, apex rounded. Elytron: lateral margin uneven; exterior apical angle rounded, without tooth; with four strong but interrupted costae; costa 1 visible at base, middle (where it is connected by a transverse carinae to costae 2 and 3), on apical ¾, and apex; 3 rd begins at humerus and continues to middle, interrupted to apical ¾; 4 nearly entire, interrupted behind middle where it forms an oblique carina which does not reach costa 3 but reaches interspace 6; with 10 rows of punctures plus short scutellar row; exterior apical angle distinctly angulate; elytral width 1.7 mm; elytral length 3.4 mm. Venter: smooth; shining; impunctate. Leg: tarsi elongate, narrower at base than apex. Total length: 5.0 mm.

Comparative notes. This species can be distinguished from all other Chaeridiona by the tooth in the rounded exterior apical angle of the elytra and by having elytral costae 1 and 4 interrupted.

Larval host plant. Reared from Commelina sp. (Commelinaceae) ( Świętojaṅska et al. 2006).

Food plants. Adults have been collected on Commelina benghalensis L. and C. nudiflora (L.) Brenan ( Kalaichelvan & Verma 2005).

Distribution. India: Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra; Orissa; West Bengal.

Specimens examined. India: no further data ( BMNH, 1); Maharashtra, Satara Dist., Mahabateshwar , 20.IX.2005 ( UWCP, 1). Total: 2 .

Figures

FIGURE 4–5. 4. Chaeridiona metallica Baly- dorsal view. 5. Chaeridiona picea Baly- dorsal view. (line on photos equals 1 mm).