Hispodonta Baly 1858: 78

Synonomys

Spilispa Chapuis 1875: 285.

Type Species

Hispodonta nigricornis Baly.

Diagnosis

Hispodonta can be distinguished by the following combination of characters:

• body elongate, flattened
• 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 without long, stiff spines
• 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 seta in each posterior angle, anterior angle distinctly rounded
• elytra with scutellar row of punctures
• antennomere 3 at least 3x as long as 2
• tarsomere 2 concealed by setae of tarsomere 3

Description

Body elongate, oval; flattened; color variable from orange to metallic blue; 6.5 to 15 mm in length.

Head: large; with triangular projection between antennal bases; labrumlabrum:
triangular, joined to the clypeus and the oral orifice
large; maxillary palps very long, palpomere 1 short, 2 elongate, claviform, 3 oblong, ½ length of 2, 4 shorter than 2, sharply pointed at apex; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
oval, convex.

Antenna: ½ body length; filiform; antennomere 1 subglobose; 2 short; 3 3x length of 2; 4 to 10 cylindrical, subequal in length; 11 longer than 10, pointed at apex.

Pronotum: subquadrate; lateral margin rounded; anterior angle rounded; anterior margin straight; posterior margin bisinuate; posterior angle acute.

Scutellum: pentagonal.

Elytron: oblong, oval; flattened along suture; lateral and apical margin expanded, laminate; with 10 rows of punctures plus short scutellar row, rows 1 to 4 regular, rows 6 to 10 confused; no costae.

Venter: prosternumprosternum:
contains two anterior coxal cavities
dilated apically; mesosternummesosternum:
narrow between middle coxae, separated from metasternum by a transverse suture; forming the anterior part of the middle coxal cavities
long, rounded apically; suture between abdominal sterna 1 and 2 complete.

Leg: long; femurfemur:
largest part of the leg; more or less cylindrical, attached at base to trochanter and at apex to tibia
swollen; tibiatibia:
variable in length; joins femur and tarsus
thick, curved; tarsomere 2 concealed by setae of tarsomere 3.

Distribution

India, Indonesia, New Guinea, Philippines.

World Fauna

Described species 27 (Staines 2012). Key: Maulik 1919, Gressitt 1957b, 1963, Gressitt & Samuelson 1988.

Hosts

Calamus (Araceae); Heterospathe?, Metroxylon (Arecaceae); Cyperaceae; Musa (Musaceae); Zingiberaceae.

References

Baly, J. S. 1858. Catalogue of Hispidae in the collection of the BritishMuseum. London, 172 pp.

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.

Gressitt, J. L. 1957b. Hispine beetles from the South Pacific (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Nova Guinea n. s. 8:205‑324.

Gressitt, J. L. 1963. Hispine beetles (Chrysomelidae) from New Guinea. Pacific Insects 5:591‑714.

Gressitt, J. L. & G. A. Samuelson. 1988. Hispinae of the New Guinea‑Solomons Area. I. Tribe Callisipini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). BishopMuseum Occasional Papers 28:50‑64.

Maulik, S. 1919. Hispinae and Cassidinae of India, Burma and Ceylon. The fauna of British India. Taylor & Francis, London. 439 pp.

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