Subfamily Cassidinae Gyllenhal, 1813

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cassidinae Gyllenhal, L. 1813. Insects Suecica. Classis I. Coleoptera sive Eleuterata, Tomus I, pars III. Scaris. 734 pp. [434].
• Hispinae Gyllenhal, L. 1813. Insects Suecica. Classis I. Coleoptera sive Eleuterata, Tomus I, pars III. Scaris. 734 pp. [448].

 

Introduction

The subfamily Cassidinae is large, with more than 350 genera and 5500 species worldwide (Seeno & Wilcox 1982; Chaboo, Borowiec, Staines etc). By comparison the Australian fauna is depauperate, with 15 genera and 54 species. However the subfamily is found throughout Australia.

This group of beetles has a convoluted history, having long been considered two subfamilies, Cassidinae and Hispinae. Recent research supports treating the subfamily as a single unit, with the historically defined Cassidinae as an almost monophyletic clade embedded in the grade-like 'Hispinae' (Hsiao & Windsor 1999). The oldest valid name for the whole group is Cassidinae (Staines). This modern concept of Cassidinae is certainly monophyletic but the subfamily is of unknown placement among the Chrysomelidae, though possibly sister to Chrysomelinae and Galerucinae. The internal classification is in a state of flux, with numerous tribes. The hispoid cassidines were catalogued by Uhmann (1958) and the cassidoids by Borowiec (1999).

This subfamily is probably the best known of the Australian Chrysomelidae. Keys or modern descriptions are available for almost all known species (Uhmann 1954, 1957; Gressitt 1960, 1963; Gressitt & Samuelson 1990; Samuelson 1989; Borowiec 1990, 1991, 1992; Matthews & Reid 2002; Staines 2002) and the biology of several species has been described.

The Australian species are typical of the two types of Cassidinae: one 'hispoid' group with cryptic spiny adults, feeding primarily on monocotyledonous hosts, with external or leaf-mining flattened larvae, pupating at or near the ground; the other 'cassidoid' group with often conspicuous adults and externally-feeding spiny larvae which pupate on the host. However biology of many species is unknown and the endemic genus and species Aproida balyi is a notable exception to the above generalisation, in that it is a 'hispoid' with a fairly conspicuous adult and larva, and the larva pupates on the host (Monteith 1970).

In Australia, host plants are mostly monocots for hispoids and eudicots for cassidoids (Jolivet & Hawkeswood 1994; Matthews & Reid 2002). However the hispoid Notosacantha feeds on Acacia (Monteith 1991). The hispoid Brontispa longissima is a serious pest of coconut palms throughout south-east Asia, the west Pacific and northern Queensland (Liebregts & Chapman 2004). One species of Aspidimorpha may influence the structure of sand dune floral communities in North Queensland (Bach 1998).

Cassidoid cassidines include large and conspicuously coloured species, whose colours often fade after death, which are chemically protected by dorsal glands. Their larvae may use a cap of faeces or shed skins for protection. Some non-Australian species show maternal care (Chaboo 2002).

Several introduced South American species (Julien & Griffiths 1998), brought in for control of lantana have established, are having no noticeable effect on this plant and but are now providing hosts for a range of native parasitoids (Broughton 2001).

 

Diagnosis

After Reid (2000). Adult: mouth ventral, usually posterior to eyes and interocular space; mandibular mola absent; elytron with an apical spine or broadly explanate; wing with one or without anal cell; tarsi 3- or 4-segmented, with bifid setae on ventral surface of segments 1-3; first two abdominal ventrites fused; tegmen without dorsal cap.
Larva: not enclosed in transportable capsule; eggbursters absent; maxillary palpi 1- or 2-segmented; labial palpi 1-segmented; legs present or absent, if present with paronychial appendix on tibia and pretarsus much shorter than tibia; dorsal ambulatory ampullae absent; abdominal segments with lateral spines or flattened extensions.

 

General References

Achard, J. 1914. Coleoptera Phytophaga fam. Chrysomelidæ. Genera Insectororum. Vol. 25.

Borowiec, L. 1990. A review of the genus Cassida L. of the Australian region and the Papuan subregion (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae). Genus (Wroclaw) 1: 1-51

Borowiec, L. 1991. On the genera Emdenia Spaeth, 1915 and Austropsecadia Hincks, 1950 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). Genus (Wroclaw) 2: 1-10

Borowiec, L. 1992. A review of the tribe Aspidomorphini of the Australian region and Papuan subregion (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae). Genus (Wroclaw) 3: 121-184

Borowiec, L. 1999. A world catalogue of the Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Wroclaw : Biologica Silesiae 476 pp.

Broughton, S. 2001. Parasitism and predation of the lantana leafmining beetles Octotoma scabripennis Guerin-Meneville and Uroplata girardi Pic (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Hispinae) in Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 40: 286-293

Chaboo, C.S. 2002. First report of immatures, genitalia and maternal care in Eugenysa columbiana (Boheman) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Eugenysini). Coleopterists' Bulletin 56(1): 50-67

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

Gressitt, J.L. 1963. Hispine beetles (Chrysomelidae) from New Guinea. Pacific Insects 5(3): 591-714

Gressitt, J.L. & Samuelson, G.A. 1990. Hispinae of the New Guinea-Solomons area. II. Tribe Coelaenomenoderini (Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae). Occasional Papers of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum 30: 259-278

Hsiao, T.H. & Windsor, D.M. 1999. Historical and biological relationships among Hispinae inferred from 12S MTDNA sequence data. pp. 39-50 in Cox, M.L. (ed.). Advances in Chrysomelidae Biology 1. Leiden : Backhuys.

Julien, M.H. & Griffiths, M.W. (eds) 1998. Biological Control of Weeds: A world catalogue of agents and their target weeds. Wallingford : CAB International 223 pp.

Liebregts, W. & Chapman, K. 2004. Impact and control of the coconut hispine beetle, Brontispa longissima Gestro (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). In, Report of the Expert Consultation on Coconut Beetle Outbreak in APPPC Member Countries. RAP Publication 2004/29, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok.

Matthews, E.G. & Reid, C.A.M. 2002. A Guide to the Genera of Beetles of South Australia. Part 8 Polyphaga: Chrysomeloidea: Chrysomelidae. Adelaide : South Australian Museum pp. 1-64.

Monteith, G.B. 1970. Life history of the chrysomelid, Aproidea balyi Pascoe. News Bulletin, Entomological Society of Queensland 72: 9-10

Monteith, G.B. 1991. Corrections to published information on Johannica gemellata (Westwood) and other Chrysomelidae (Coleoptera). Victorian Entomologist 21: 147-154

Reid, C.A.M. 2000. Spilopyrinae Chapuis: a new subfamily in the Chrysomelidae and its systematic placement (Coleoptera). Invertebrate Taxonomy 14: 837-862

Samuelson, G.A. 1989. A review of the hispine tribe Aproidini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 27(2): 599-604 [Date published 13 Nov. 1989]

Seeno, T.N. & Wilcox, J.A. 1982. Leaf beetle genera (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). pp. 1-221 in Eichlin, T.D. & Papp, C.S. (eds). Entomography, An annual review for biosystematics. Sacramento, California : Entomography Publications Vol. 1.

Staines, C.L. 2002. The New World tribes and genera of hispines (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 104(3): 721-784

Uhmann, E. von 1954. Austral-asiatische Hispinae aus dem Zoologischen Museum der Humboldt-Universität Berlin 6. Teil. Die Gattung Hispellinus Weise. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 30: 96-104

Uhmann, E. von 1957. Hispinae aus dem Britischen Museum X. Teil: Eurispa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 12 10: 769-778

Uhmann, E. von 1958. Chrysomelidae: Hispinae — Hispinae Africanae, Eurasiaticae, Australicae. In, Hincks, W.D. (ed.) Coleopterorum Catalogus Supplementa. Pars 35, fasc. 2, edn 2. Junk. 155-398 pp.