Plesispa Chapuis 1875: 290

Synonomys

None.

Type Species

Plesispa reichei Chapuis.

Diagnosis

Plesispa 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 without long, stiff spines
• head with narrow frontal horn ½ length of antennomere 1, with small lamina visible from above below antennal bases
• antennomere 1 without spine-like process
• 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 angles oblique, each anterior angle with seta
• elytra with 8 rows of punctures plus scutellar row basally, 10 rows apically
• prosternum prosternum:
  contains two anterior coxal cavities
  with anterior margin not expanding forward

Description

Body elongate; subparallel; subdepressed; color brown with some black; total length 5.0 to 9.0 mm.

Head: small; cephalic plate quadrate; frontal horn elongate, narrow, rounded at apex, ½ length of antennomere 1; with small lamina visible from above below antennal bases; labrumlabrum:
triangular, joined to the clypeus and the oral orifice
short, emarginate; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
large, convex.

Antenna: filiform; reaches to humerus; with 11-antennomeres; antennomere 1 subincrassate; 2 and 3 subequal in length, cylindrical; 4 to 10 subequal in length, each shorter than 3; 11 longer than 10, pointed at apex.

Pronotum: transverse; lateral margin straight at base, then sharply angulate and converging to anterior angle; anterior angle oblique, with tooth and seta; anterior margin weakly curved; posterior angle acute; posterior margin bisinuate; surface punctate.

Scutellum: small; cordate.

Elytron: lateral margin straight, smooth; exterior apical angle rounded; apical margin rounded; humerus angulate, not produced; with 8 rows of deep punctures plus scutellar row basally, 10 rows apically; tricostate.

Venter: prosternumprosternum:
contains two anterior coxal cavities
with anterior margin not expanding forward.

Leg: short; femurfemur:
largest part of the leg; more or less cylindrical, attached at base to trochanter and at apex to tibia
thickened; tibiatibia:
variable in length; joins femur and tarsus
emarginate apically.

Distribution

Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Britain, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand.

World Fauna

Described species: 7 (Staines 2012). Key: Gressitt 1957b, 1960a, 1963a.

Hosts

Calamus (Areceae); Archontophoenix, Areca, Arenga, Cocos, Cyrtostachys, Daemonorops, Heterospaethe, Korthalsia, Metroxylon, Nipa, Rhopaloblaste? (Arecaceae); Flagellaria (Flagellariaceae); Saccharum (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.

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

Gressitt, J. L. 1960a. Papuan-West Polynesian hispine beetles (Chrysomelidae). Pacific Insects 2:1-90.

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

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