Chrysispa Weise 1897: 139

Synonomys

None.

Type Species

Hispa viridicyanea Kraatz.

Diagnosis

Chrysispa can be distinguished by the following combination of characters:

• lateral margin of 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 elytra with long, stiff spines
• body color black or metallic blue or green
• antennomere 1 without spine
• pronotum pronotum:
  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
  with anterior margin without spines, lateral margin with 3+1 or 4+1 spines
• elytra glabrous
• tarsal claws fused, pointed at apex, with tooth ventrally

Description

Body elongate; subparallel; subconvex; color black to metallic blue or green; total length 4.9 to 5.9 mm.

Head: large; convex; vertexvertex:
occupies the area behind and between the eyes
with medial sulcus; small projection present between antennal bases; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
large, convex.

Antenna: filiform; reaches to humerus; with 11-antennomeres; antennomere 1 incrassate, 2x length of 2, without spine, with small tooth ventrally; 2 obconic; 3 cylindrical, slightly longer than 1; 4 to 10 decreasing in length; 11 subequal in length to 10, acutely pointed at apex.

Pronotum: transverse; lateral margin sinuate, with 4 (3 on common base plus a single [3+1]) or 5 (4 on a common base plus a single [4+1]) spines; anterior angle rounded; anterior margin curved forward, without spines; posterior angle acute, with small tooth; posterior margin bisinuate; surface irregularly punctate, with transverse depression basally.

Scutellum: large; cordate.

Elytron: lateral margin straight, with long and short spines; exterior apical angle and apical margin rounded, with spines; sutural angle with small tooth; humerus rounded, not produced; with 8 rows of punctures plus scutellar row; disc with 2 to 9 narrow spines; surface glabrous.

Leg: long; slender; tarsal claws fused, pointed at apex, with tooth at base.

Distribution

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe.

World Fauna

Described species: 5 (Staines 2012). Key: Würmli 1976i.

Hosts

Oryza, Vossia (Poaceae).

References

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

Weise, J. 1897. Kritisches Verzeichnifs der von Mr. Andrews eingesandten Cassidinen und Hispinen aus Indien. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1897:97-150.

Würmli, M. 1976i. Artgrenzen in der Gattung Chrysispa, eine Untersuchung zur Mikroevolution (Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Hispinae). Revue de Zoologie Africaine 90:514-527.