Trichispa Chapuis 1875: 331

Synonomys

Lesageana L. Medvedev 2003a: 152.

Type Species

Hispa sericea Guérin-Méneville.

Diagnosis

Trichispa 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 densely setose
• antennae with 11-antennomeres, 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 4 short spines (2+1+1)
• tarsal claws entirely fused, pointed

Description

Body elongate; subparallel; subdepressed; color black with dense gray setae; total length 2.9 to 4.1 mm.

Head: small; convex; vertexvertex:
occupies the area behind and between the eyes
with medial sulcus; labrumlabrum:
triangular, joined to the clypeus and the oral orifice
large, transverse, emarginate; eyeeye:
elongate, slightly prominent, multifaceted; usually slightly kidney-shaped
large, oblong-oval.

Antenna: reaches beyond base 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
; thickening apically; with 11-antennomeres; antennomere 1 subincrassate, without spine; 2 subcylindrical, shorter than 1; 3 to 6 obconic, each shorter than 2; 7 to 10 transverse, each shorter than 6; 11 longer than 10, pointed at apex.

Pronotum: transverse; lateral margin rounded, converging toward apex, with bifurcate spine near anterior angle, a single spine medially, and a single spine after middle (2+1+1); anterior angle rounded; anterior margin curved forward, without spines; posterior angle acute; posterior margin straight; surface punctate with weak impression basally.

Scutellum: small; narrow; rounded apically.

Elytron: lateral margin straight, with scattered minute spines; exterior apical angle rounded, with minute spines; apical margin rounded, smooth; humerus angulate, not produced; with 8 rows of punctures plus scutellar row; disc without spines.

Leg: tarsal claws entirely fused, pointed.

Distribution

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire.

World Fauna

Described species: 1- Trichispa sericea (Guérin-Méneville) (Staines 2012).

Hosts

Chloris, Digitaria, Diplachne, Echinochloa, Eragrostis, Oryza (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.

Medvedev, L. N. 2003a. New taxa of Chrysomelidae from Afrotropical and Oriental regions (Insecta, Coleoptera). Spixiana 26(2):149-153.

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