Baliosus californicus

Baliosus californicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Chrysomelidae
Genus:	Baliosus
Species:	B. californicus
Binomial name
Baliosus californicus (Horn, 1883)
Synonyms
Odontota californicusHorn, 1883

Baliosus californicus is a species of tortoise beetle or hispine in the family Chrysomelidae. ^{[1] [2]} It is found in Central America and North America, ^{[2] [3] [4]} where it has been recorded from the United States (Arizona, California, Oregon, Texas) and Mexico (Baja California).

Description

The head is smooth and opaque and the face between the eyes is obsoletely produced, the front and upper face impressed with a deep longitudinal groove. The antennae are equal in length to the head and thorax, slightly thickened towards the apex. The thorax is slightly broader than long, the sides converging from the base to the apex, obsoletely angulate. The elytra are oblong, parallel, the apices conjointly, obtusely rounded. The margin is minutely serrulate. The upper surface is convex on the sides and at the apex, slightly flattened along the suture. Each elytron has ten, about the middle disc with nine, at the extreme base with eleven, rows of deeply impressed punctures, the second, fourth, and eighth interspaces (the basal third of the last excepted), together with the sixth at base and apex, costate, the suture also elevated. ^[5]

Biology

This species has been found feeding on Ceanothus fendleri , Ceanothus integerrimus , Ceanothus leucodermis and Ceanothus velutinus . ^[6]

References

1. "Baliosus californicus Species Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
2. "Baliosus californicus Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
3. "North American Cryptocephalus species (Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalinae)". Texas Entomology.
4. Staines C.L. "Catalog of the hispines of the World". Smithsonian Institution.
5. Biologia Centrali-Americana: Insecta (Coleoptera) Vol. VI. part 2 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
6. Staines, C.L. (2012). "Hispines of the World". USDA/APHIS/PPQ Science and Technology and National Natural History Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2025.

Further reading

• Arnett, R. H. Jr.; Thomas, M. C.; Skelley, P. E.; Frank, J. H., eds. (21 June 2002). American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, Florida.
• Arnett, Ross H. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico. CRC Press.
• White, Richard E. (1968). A Review of the Genus Cryptocephalus in America North of Mexico. Smithsonian Institution Press.
• White, Richard E. (1983). Peterson Field Guides: Beetles. Houghton Mifflin Company.