Dorcathispa Weise 1900c: 458

Synonomys

Hispella (Cerathispa) Weise 1900a: 213.

Dorcatispa Weise (misspelling).

Hispa (Podispa) Chapuis 1875: 335.

Type Species

Cerathispa alternata Weise.

Diagnosis

Dorcathispa 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
• antennae with antennomeres 1 to 6 with 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 with a bifurcate spine on each side
• tarsal claws not fused, symmetrical

Description

Body small; subparallel; subconvex; color black; total length 3.7 to 5.2 mm.

Head: wide; vertexvertex:
occupies the area behind and between the eyes
punctate, medial sulcus present; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
large, flattened.

Antenna: reaches to humerus; slightly expanding apically; with 11-antennomeres; antennomeres 1 to 6 with spine; 1 oblong, longer than 2; 2 obconic, ½ length of 1; 3 cylindrical, longer than 1 and 2 combined; 4 to 6 shorter, decreasing in length; 7 to 10 transverse; 11 longer than 10, pointed at apex.

Pronotum: transverse; lateral margin convergent apically, with 2 long, branched spines on common base plus a single forward curved long spine after middle (5+1); anterior angle rounded; anterior margin curved forward, with bifurcate spine on each side; posterior angle acute; posterior margin straight; surface punctate, with 2 elongate depressions after middle.

Scutellum: large, cordate.

Elytron: lateral margin straight, with slender spines of various lengths; exterior apical angle rounded, with slender spines of various lengths; apical margin rounded, with slender spines of various lengths; humerus angulate, not produced; with 8 rows of punctures plus scutellar row; disc with slender spines of various lengths.

Leg: femurfemur:
largest part of the leg; more or less cylindrical, attached at base to trochanter and at apex to tibia
robust, with spines on inner margin; tibiatibia:
variable in length; joins femur and tarsus
with small spines on inner margin; tarsal claws not fused, symmetrical.

Distribution

Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Portuguese Guinea, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe.

World Fauna

Described species: 3 (Staines 2012). Key: none.

Hosts

Sorghum, Zea (Poaceae).

References

Chapuis, F. 1875. in J. T. Lacordaire, Histoire naturelle des insectes. Genera des Coléoptères, Vol. 11, Famille des Phytophages, 420 pp. Encylopédique de Roret; Paris.

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

Weise, J. 1900a. Einige neue Hispinen und Cassidinen von Paul Weise in Usambara gesammelt. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1900:213-217.

Weise, J. 1900c. Breschreibungen africanischer Chrysomeliden nebst synonymischen Bemerkungen. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1900:446-459.