Calyptocephala Chevrolat 1836: 391

Synonomys

None.

Type Species

Cassida nigricornis Germar.

Diagnosis

Calyptocephala can be distinguished by the following combination of characters:

• the lateral margins of the 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
  and the elytra without long, stiff spines
• the head without a frontal horn
• the 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
  having a seta in all four angles
• the anterior margin of the prosternumprosternum:
  contains two anterior coxal cavities
  projecting forward, partially covering the mouth
• the elytra at base being much wider than the base of the pronotum
• the elytra having no costae
• the elytra being rounded at the sides
• the antennae having 11-antennomeres, with antennomere 3 being shorter than 4 and 5 combined, and by 3 to 4 not having an acute spine on the anterior angle.

Description

Head: rounded, visible dorsally; front subconvex; clypeusclypeus:
usually quadrangular, elongate; joined to the labrum
transverse, upper margin curved, overlapping antennal base; labrumlabrum:
triangular, joined to the clypeus and the oral orifice
large, slightly wider than long, apical margin truncate, with medial longitudinal carina; maxillary palps with apical palpomere oblong, longer than preceding; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
oval, slightly convex.

Antenna: filiform; ½ length of body; with 11-antennomeres; antennomere 1 oblong, obconic; 2 thinner and shorter than 1; 3 twice as long as 2; remainder gradually decreasing in length.

Pronotum: twice as wide as long, at base narrower than base of elytra, convex; anterior margin slightly emarginate, angles of emargination obtuse; anterior angle rounded, with seta on cone in anterior and posterior angle; lateral margin curved, convergent anteriorly; posterior margin almost straight.

Scutellum: elliptical.

Elytron: subtriangular or suboval, wide basally, narrowed and rounded apically, convex; humerus prominent, subacute; with 10 rows of shallow, regular punctures, scutellar row absent; no costae.

Venter: prosternumprosternum:
contains two anterior coxal cavities
with apex notched, narrowed between coxae, dilated apically, truncate basally, projecting forward to partly cover mouth; abdomenabdomen:
with five visible sternites
with suture between sterna 1 and 2 obsolete in middle.

Leg: tibiatibia:
variable in length; joins femur and tarsus
rounded, notched on apical ⅓, exterior margin subangulate; tarsustarsus:
each with five tarsomeres, penultimate degenerated.  Last tarsomere with claws.  Basal tarsomere small, triangular; second bilobed, larger than first; third larger than second, with two pronounced lobes; last tarsomere more or less conical, with one or two curved claws at distal end; segments 1 to 3 flattened,  with dense pubescence on  lower surface.
wide, tarsomere 1 narrower than rest, 4 little longer than lobes of 3; claws simple, divaricate.

Distribution

Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, and Venezuela.

World Fauna

Number of species: 11 (Staines 2012). Key to species: Wagener (1881) covered 6 species.

Hosts

Arecastrum, Astrocaryum, Chamaedorea, Elaeis (Arecaceae); Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae); Chusquea (Poaceae).

References

Chevrolat, L. A. A. 1836. in P. F. M. A. Dejean, Catalogue des Coléoptères de la collection de M. le comte Dejean. Troisième edition, revue, corrigée et augmentée, livr. 5, pp. 385‑503. Mequignon-Marvis. Paris.

Staines, C. L. 2012. Tribe Spilophorini. Catalog of the hispines of the world (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). http://entomology.si.edu/Collections_Coleoptera.html

Wagener, B. 1881. Cassididae. Mitteilungen der Müncher Entolomogischen Vereins 5:17-85.