Demothispa Gemminger & Harold 1876: 3599.
Demosthispa Donckier 1899: 545.
Pseudimatidium Aslam 1965: 691.
Demotispa pallida Baly.
Demotispa can be distinguished by the following combination of characters:
Body elongate to elongate-oval, flattened.
Head: small; fronsfrons:
upper anterior portion of head capsule above the clypeus
vertical; antennal base with keel or may be broadly separated; interantennal carina distinct; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
slightly protruding; maxillary palp with palpomeres 2 to 4 subequal in length.
Antenna: with 11-antennomeres, long, filiform; antennomeres 1 to 2 short, subequal in length; subglobular; 3 longest, 4 to 11 subequal in length.
Pronotum: slightly narrower than base of elytra, transverse; lateral margin curved, narrowly laminate.
Scutellum: pentagonal, cuspidate behind.
Elytron: oblong‑oval, wider than pronotumpronotum:
occupies all of dorsal part of the prothorax; in anterior angles or posterior angles there may be a small tubercle or pore with a seta
, convex, indented behind humerus; lateral margin often expanded, smooth; with 10 rows of punctures plus scutellar row.
Venter: prosternumprosternum:
contains two anterior coxal cavities
narrow; mesosternummesosternum:
narrow between middle coxae, separated from metasternum by a transverse suture; forming the anterior part of the middle coxal cavities
transverse; 4 visible abdominal sterna.
Leg: short; claws divaricate.
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Described species: 28 species (Staines 2012). Key to species: Spaeth (1938)- group 4; Uhmann (1937, 1948); Sanderson (1967).
Arecastrum, Areca, Astrocaryum,Bactris, Chamaedorea, Cocos, Desmoncus, Elaeis, Geonoma, Phoenix, Pritchardia, Washingtonia (Arecaceae).
Aslam, N. A. 1965. OnHispoleptis Baly (Coleoptera, Hispidae) and Imatidium F. (Coleoptera, Cassididae). The Annals and Magazine of Natural History (13)8:687-693.
Baly, J. S. 1858. Catalogue of Hispidae in the collection of the BritishMuseum. London, 172 pp.
Donckier de Donceel, H. 1899. Catalogue systematique des Hispides. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 68:540‑615.
Gemminger, M. & B. von Harold. 1876. Catalogus Coleopterum hucusque descriptorum, synonymicus et systematicus. Williams & Norgate, London. Vol. 12:3479-3822.
Sanderson, M. W. 1967. New West Indian Hispinae, with notes and keys (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Caribbean Journal of Science 7:135‑139.
Spaeth, F. 1938. Die Gattung Himatidium Fabr. (Col. Cassidinae). Revista de Entomología Rio de Janiero 9:305-317.
Staines, C. L. 2012. Tribe Imatidiini. Catalog of the hispines of the world (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). http://entomology.si.edu/Collections_Coleoptera.html
Uhmann, E. 1937. Hispinen-Minen aus Costa Rica. II. Teil. 62. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Hispinen (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Arbeiten über physiologische und angewandte Entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem 4:61-66.
Uhmann, E. 1948. Neue Hispinae aus Südamerika (Col. Chrysom.). 107. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Hispinae. Revista de Entomología Rio de Janeiro 19:207-230.