Species Plagiometriona clavata - Clavate Tortoise Beetle

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · See Also · Works Cited

Tortoise Beetle - Plagiometriona clavata

Clavate Tortoise Beetle - Plagiometriona clavata

translucent beetle - Plagiometriona clavata

Plagiometriona clavata? - Plagiometriona clavata - male - female

Fitzgerald Lake tortoise beetle - Plagiometriona clavata

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Long-horned and Leaf Beetles)

Family Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)

Subfamily Cassidinae (Tortoise Beetles and the Hispines)

Tribe Cassidini (Tortoise Beetles)

Genus Plagiometriona

Species clavata (Clavate Tortoise Beetle)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

=Helocassis clavata, H. testudinaria

Explanation of Names

Latin clava 'club or knotty branch' (refers to the knob-like dorsal projections?)

Numbers

2 subspecies: P. c. clavata, P. c. testudinaria(1), the latter sometimes considered as separate species(2)

Size

body 5-7 mm; female larger than male

Identification

adult: dorsum with large dark patch shaped like a teddy bear, with "legs" of the "bear" reaching elytral margins and the "head" extending onto the pronotum

Range

P. c. clavata e. NA west to Great Plains(1)

P. c. testudinaria so. US (LA-AZ) to South America(1)

Food

plants in the tomato family (Solanaceae): ground-cherries (Physalis), Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), and Solanum spp.; other reported host plants probably incidental(3)

See Also

Deloyala are superficially similar but the "teddy bear" shape is missing "hind legs"

Works Cited

1.	Catalog of Leaf Beetles of America North of Mexico By Ed Riley, Shawn Clark, and Terry Seeno

2.	Cassidinae of the world - an interactive manual (by Lech Borowiec and Jolanta Świętojańska)

3.	Host Plants of Leaf Beetle Species Occuring in the United States and Canada By Shawn Clark, Douglas LeDoux, Terry Seeno, Edward Riley, Arthur Gilbert, and James Sullivan. 2004.

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 26 March, 2004 - 3:16pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 18 November, 2010 - 9:55pm

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