Description of larvae of two closely related species Cassida palaestina Reiche, 1858 and Cassida rubiginosa Müller, 1776 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae)

Abstract

Larvae of two closely related species Cassida palaestina Reiche, 1858 and Cassida rubiginosa Müller, 1776 are described in detail including SEM microstructures. First instars are extremely similar with no clear diagnostic characters, larvae of Cassida palaestina are slightly more contrastingly coloured than larvae of C. rubiginosa, the latter having darker scoli, basal part of supra-anal processes and legs. Last instars differ in very subtle but constant characters: lateral scoli of C. palaestina are slightly shorter than those of C. rubiginosa, in C. palaestina tops of the lateral branches are armed apically with an elongate cauliflower-shaped sensillum while in C. rubiginosa tops of the lateral branches are more often armed with a pointed seta than with an elongate cauliflower-shaped sensillum, and cauliflower-shaped sensilla on tergites are less elongate in C. palaestina than in C. rubiginosa. These differences accompanied by distinguishing characters of adults and their distribution range indicate that both taxa are probably vicariant species with partial parapatric occurrence. Centaurea behen is a new host plant for C. palaestina.

Architecture, construction, retention, and repair of faecal shields in three tribes of tortoise beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae: Cassidini, Mesomphaliini, Spilophorini)

“… Cassida Linnaeus, 1758 comprises 484 species ( Borowiec and Świętojańska 2002 –present). Immatures have been described for 64 species and exuvio-faecal shields have been noted in most documented larvae to date ( Świętojańska and Borowiec 2007 : Table 1 ; Świętojańska et al 2013 ). Natural history of Cass.…”

Descriptions of immature stages of Octodonta nipae (Maulik) (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae, Cryptonychini)

“…Many larvae and pupae in the subfamily Cassidinae have been described in detail (Maulik 1938, Gressitt 1960a, 1960b, Ford and Cavey 1985, Borowiec and Świętojańska 2003, Świętojańska et al 2005, 2006, 2013, 2015, Świętojańska and Borowiec 2007, Świętojańska and Kovac 2007, Świętojańska and Medeiros 2007, Świętojańska and Windsor 2008, Liao et al 2018), in the genus Octodonta , larvae of O. korthalsiae , O. subparallela , O. maffinensis were keyed and described by Gressitt (1960a); and preimaginal stages of O. depressa were described by Zaitsev (2006). As the only Octodonta species in China, the immature stage of O. nipae is still not described in detail, and we found O. nipae resembles another invasive species, Brontispa longissima (Gestro), especially in the immature stages.…”