Homalispa (s. str.) Baly 1858: 33

Synonomys

None.

Type Species

Homalispa batesii Baly.

Diagnosis

Homalispa (s. str.) 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; mouthparts projecting forward
• 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
  with a seta in each anterior angle
• the apex of the elytra without a tooth-like projection
• the elytra without costae, rounded, margins serrulate
• the antennae with 11-antennomeres, filiform, antennomere 3 not the longest

Description

Body oval or oblong‑oval, rather flat.

Head: small; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
elongate; fronsfrons:
upper anterior portion of head capsule above the clypeus
depressed, obliquely directed forward; labrumlabrum:
triangular, joined to the clypeus and the oral orifice
large, visible from above; mandible long, bidentate; labium large, almost as long as wide; clypeusclypeus:
usually quadrangular, elongate; joined to the labrum
short, with one narrow cross striation which is ledge‑shaped and curved upwards; mouthparts projecting forward.

Antenna: with 11-antennomeres, thin, filiform, inserted in a frontal depression, not separated by a keel; antennomere 3 not longest.

Pronotum: transverse; lateral margin convergent apically; anterior margin angularly pointed; narrower than elytra.

Scutellum: pentagonal, cuspidate behind.

Elytron: 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
, indented behind humerus; humerus impunctate; lateral and apical margins smooth; with 10 rows of punctures plus scutellar row.

Distribution

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad.

World Fauna

Described species: 27 species (Staines 2012). Key to species: none.

Hosts

Lasiacis, Olyra (Poaceae); Oenocarpus (Arecaceae).

References

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

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