British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera
British Insects: the Families of Coleoptera |
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Including Cassididae, Crioceridae, Hispidae, etc.
Leaf-beetles.
General appearance. 1–18 mm long. Body length/maximum body width 0.93–4.65. Elytral length/pronotal length 1.25–10.85. Base of prothorax not or scarcely narrower than the combined elytral bases, or distinctly narrower than the combined elytral bases. Greatest prothoracic width not narrower or only slightly narrower than the greatest elytral width, or distinctly narrower than greatest elytral width. Beetles round to elongate; not necked; not waisted to conspicuously waisted; often brightly coloured, spotted or metallic; exhibiting bright ‘warning colours’, or without ‘warning colouration’. Upper surfaces of body glabrous or subglabrous, or non-glabrous; exhibiting stiff, erect, dark bristles, or not bristly; exhibiting scales or scale-like setae, or with neither scales nor scale-like setae.
Detailed morphology. Beetles without a rostrum; prognathous, or not prognathous. Inclination of the head slight to very strong. Eyes strongly protuberant, or not strongly protuberant; not accommodating the antennae in a notch (but sometimes emarginate); bristly, or without bristles. Ocelli absent. Antennae very short to long, but not exceeding the insect’s head to tail length; 3 segmented, or 7–11 segmented. Antennal scape swollen, or not swollen. Antennae filiform, or gradually expanding acropetally, or serrate. Antennal insertions visible from above, or hidden from above; ‘countersunk’ within saucer-like fossae, or not in fossae.
Prothorax shorter than wide to longer than wide. Pronotal length/maximum pronotal width 0.18–1.7. Prothorax at its widest markedly narrower than the adjoining part of the abdomen (often), or not markedly narrower than the adjoining part of the abdomen; with neither produced front corners nor serrated sides. Prothorax without notopleural sutures. Metaventrite without a transverse groove. The tarsi usually exhibiting bilobed segments; with a tiny penultimate segment hidden by lobing of the one proximal to it, or without ‘hidden’ segments. Mid-leg tarsi 4-segmented, or 5-segmented; pentamerous, or pseudotetramerous, or tetramerous. Claws of the mid-leg tarsi not appendaged. Front tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented, or 5-segmented. Hind tarsi with as many segments as the mid-tarsi; 4-segmented, or 5-segmented. Tarsal claws simple, or one-toothed or bifid, or serrate, denticulate or pectinate; without an associated empodium. Elytral length/maximum width across the elytra 0.7–3.72. Elytra not individually tapered; covering most of the abdomen; exposing no more than part of the terminal tergite, or at least one but fewer than three complete abdominal tergites to at least three complete abdominal tergites (usually); not truncate; hard. Scutellary striole present, or absent. Elytra usually glabrous. Wings well developed, or absent or much reduced.
Visible abdominal sternites 4–5; immovably joined 0, or 2. Abdominal segment 8 with apparently functional spiracles, or apparently without functional spiracles.
Habitat, ecology. Land-dwellers; not predacious; phytophagous (often on leaves, and including pest species such as the Colorado Beetle); in living vegetation.
General comments. Very variable in form, usually robust; tibiae with fewer than two spurs on one or more legs. Metaventrite (= metasternum) without a transverse groove (by contrast with Buprestidae).
Larvae. Larvae not predacious; phytophagous (attacking fruits, foliage, tunnelling in stems, etc.); on living vegetation.
Classification. Suborder Polyphaga; Superfamily Chrysomeloidea.
British representation. Genera 52; 254 species. E.g., Phyllobrotica quadrimaculata (Orange-and-black Galeruca); Mantura matthewsii (Matthews's Haltica); Cassida salicorniae Curtis, = C. vittata: Samphire Tortoise-beetle); Entomoscelis adonidis (Lincolnshire Chrysomela: not indigenous); Lema cyanella (Spencean Crioceris); Cryptocephalus bipunctatus (Yellow-tipped Cryptocephalus); Donacia claviceps, Pyrrhalta viburni (Striped-legged Galeruca); Labiostomis tridentata; Lamprosoma concolor (Knotted-horned Byrrhus); Calomicrus circumfuscus (Striped Galeruca); Phyllotreta ochripes; Prasocuris junci (Blue Helodes); Psilliodes chalcomera (Thigh-spotted Altica); Macroplea appendiculata (Cambridge Macroplea).
Illustrations. • Phyllobrotica quadrimaculata (Orange-and-black Galeruca: B. Ent. 366). • Phyllobrotica quadrimaculata (legend+text: B. Ent. 366). • Phyllobrotica quadrimaculata (text, cont.: B. Ent. 366). • Mantura matthewsi (Curtis): Matthews's Haltica, B. Ent. 435. • Mantura matthewsi (Curtis): B. Ent. 435, legend+text. • Mantura matthewsi (Curtis): B. Ent. 435, legend cont.. • Entomoscelis adonidis (Lincolnshire Chrysomela: not indigenous. B. Ent. 111). • Entomoscelis adonidisa: B. Ent. 111, legend+text. • Entomoscelis adonidisa: B. Ent. 111, text cont.. • Cassida salicorniae Curtis = C. vittata (Samphire Tortoise-beetle: B. Ent. 127). • Cassida salicorniae Curtis = C. vittata: B. Ent. 127, legend+text. • Cassida salicorniae Curtis = C. vittata: B. Ent. 127, text cont.. • Lema cyanella: (Spencean Crioceris: B. Ent. 323). • Cryptocephalus biguttatus (Yellow-tipped Cryptocephalus: B. Ent. 35). • Cryptocephalus biguttatus: B. Ent. 35, legend+text. • Cryptocephalus biguttatus: B. Ent. 35, text cont.. • Donacia vulgaris, and dissections from D. clavipes (B. Ent. 494). • Pyrrhalta viburni (Striped-legged Galeruca: B. Ent. 371). • Lamprosoma concolor (Knotted-horned Byrrhus: B. Ent. 347). • Calomicrus circumfuscus (Striped Galeruca: B. Ent. 370). • Pslliodes chalcomera (Thigh-spotted Altica: B. Ent. 486). • Macroplea appendiculata (Cambridge Macroplea: B. Ent. 318). • Macroplea appendiculata (B. Ent. 318, details). • Macroplea appendiculata: B. Ent. 318, legend+text. • Prasocuris junci (Blue Helodes: B. Ent. 506). • Prasocuris junci (details, B. Ent. 506). • Prasocuris junci: B. Ent. 506, legend+text. • Phyllotreta ochripes, Labiostomis tridentata (Janson 243, 255).
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Coleoptera. Version: 18th September 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.
