Stenispa metallica

Stenispa metallica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Chrysomelidae
Genus:	Stenispa
Species:	S. metallica
Binomial name
Stenispa metallica (Fabricius, 1801)
Synonyms
Hispa metallicaFabricius, 1801 Languria brevicollisRandall, 1838

Stenispa metallica is a species of tortoise beetle or hispine in the family Chrysomelidae. ^{[1] [2] [3]} It is found in Central America and North America, ^{[2] [4]} where it has been recorded from the United States (Alabama, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin) and Mexico (Tamaulipas). ^[5]

Description

Adults are shining black, with an obscure metallic tinge. The thorax is scarcely longer than broad, the sides parallel, indistinctly sinuate, the anterior angles slightly produced and obtuse, and the posterior acute, above subcylindrical, finely but distinctly punctured, the punctures not very crowded. The scutellum is pentangular. The elytra are scarcely broader than the thorax, nearly four times its length, the sides narrowly margined, subsinuate, narrowed behind towards their apex, the latter in each elytron rounded, conjointly slightly emarginate at the suture. The sutural angle above is convex, distinctly punctate-striate. Beneath distinct and shining black. ^[6]

Life history

The recorded host plant for this species is Scirpus atrovirens . Furthermore, adults have been collected on Carex stricta , Carex hyalinolepis , Andropogon virginicus and Spartina species. ^[7]

References

1. "Stenispa metallica Species Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
2. "Stenispa metallica Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
3. "Stenispa metallica Overview". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
4. "North American Cryptocephalus species (Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalinae)". Texas Entomology. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
5. Mexican leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae, and Chrysomelidae): new records and checklist
6. Catalogue of Hispidae in the collection of the British museum This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
7. Staines, C.L. (2012). "Hispines of the World: Tribe Imatidiini" (PDF). USDA/APHIS/PPQ Science and Technology and National Natural History Museum. Retrieved September 19, 2025.

Further reading

• Arnett, R.H. Jr.; Thomas, M. C.; Skelley, P. E.; Frank, J. H., eds. (2002). American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press.
• Arnett, Ross H. Jr. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico. Vol. 2nd Edition. CRC Press. ISBN   0-8493-0212-9.
• Capinera, John L., ed. (2008). Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer. ISBN   978-1402062421.
• Papp, Charles S. (1984). Introduction to North American Beetles. Entomography Pubns.
• Riley, Edward G.; Clark, Shawn M.; Gilbert, Arthur J. (2001). "New records, nomenclatural changes, and taxonomic notes for select North American leaf beetles". Insecta Mundi. 15 (1): 1–17.
• White, Richard E. (1983). Peterson Field Guides: Beetles. Houghton Mifflin.
• White, Richard E. (1968). A Review of the Genus Cryptocephalus in America North of Mexico. Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Borowiec, Lech (1999). A world catalogue of the Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Biologicae Silesiae. ISBN   83-909804-4-4.