Ceratispa

Introduction

Ceratispa Gestro (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) contains 23 species found throughout the Pacific Region (Staines 2012) and has never been revised. Ceratispa biroi Gestro has been associated with palms.

Distribution

Ceratispa biroi is found in New Guinea.

Hosts

Ceratispa biroi feeds on Areca catechu L. (Maulik 1937); Metroxylon sp., Areca sp. (Gressitt 1959); other small palms (Gressitt 1960) (Arecaceae). Hawkeswood & Samuelson (1995) mentioned Pandanus sp. (Pandanaceae), and Freycinetia sp. (Arecaceae).

Damage

Immature stages are found between petiole-bases and main stems of small palms. Larvae sometimes bore into the petiole-base. Adults feed on the undersides of new fronds (Gressitt 1963).

Life history notes

none published

Bibliography

Gressitt, J. L. 1959. The coconut leaf‑mining beetle Promecotheca papuana. The Papua and New Guinea Agricultural Journal 12: 119‑148.

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

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

Hawkeswood, T. J. & G. A. Samuelson. 1995. Notes on some leaf beetles from the Passam area, East Sepik Province, and Port Moresby area, Central Province, Papua New Guinea. Spixiana 18 (2): 165-176.

Maulik, S. 1937. Distributional correlation between Hispine beetles and their host plants. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Ser. A: 129‑159.

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