Oxycephala | Hispine Pests of Palms

Introduction

There has been much taxonomic confusion over Oxycephala Guérin-Méneville (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) which currently contains only the species O. cornigera Guérin-Méneville (Staines 2012). For a taxonomic history of the genus see the summary in Staines (2012).

Distribution

Oxycephala cornigera is found in New Ireland and Admiralty Islands.

Hosts

Oxycephala cornigera feeds on Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae) (Lepesme 1947); Calamus sp. (Arecaceae), Heliconia sp. (Heliconiaceae) (Gressitt 1957); and Pinanga sp. (Arecaceae) (Gressitt 1960).

Damage

Larvae feed between the terminal shoot and petiole-base of the first lateral leaf-shoot (Gressitt 1957).

Life history notes

Adults feed on both rattan and palms (Gressitt 1957).

Bibliography

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

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

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