Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Disonycha

red-white-black beetle - Disonycha alternata flea beetle - Disonycha pensylvanica Pink striped beetle on Bladderpod flower - Disonycha Disonycha pennsylvanica? - Disonycha uniguttata Pigweed Flea Beetle  (male & female???) - Disonycha Coleoptera - Disonycha striped sp of Disonycha - Disonycha arizonae Beetle? - Disonycha discoidea
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 Galerucinae (Skeletonizing leaf beetles)
Tribe Alticini (Flea Beetles)
Genus Disonycha
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Disonycha Chevrolat, 1836
Explanation of Names
Genus erected in 1836 by Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat (1799-1884), a French entomologist. From Greek dis separate, double; plus -onych a claw or nail (1).
Numbers
36 spp. recognized north of Mex (2)
Size
Circa 4-8 mm
Identification
Large for flea beetles. Elytra usually striped. Angular hind corners of pronotum. (3)
For incomplete key to spp., see Blake (1933).
Range
Combined range throughout U.S. and southern Canada (2)
Food
Feed on a diverse array of plants (2)
Most species feed on weeds--plants of little economic value. (3)
Life Cycle
Larvae are folivorous and are frequently found in association with adults on their food plants. (2)
Print References
Blake, D.H. 1930. Synonymies of Antillean Chrysomelidae, with descriptions of new species. Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 25: 209–223.
Blake, Doris Holmes. 1933. Revision of the Beetles of the Genus Disonycha Occurring in America North of Mexico. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 82(28): 1-66, pls. 1-8.
Blake, D.H. 1951. New Species of Chrysomelid Beetles of the genera Trirhabda and Disonycha. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 41(10): 324-328.
Blake, D.H. 1957. A note on two chrysomelid beetles. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 59: 278.
Blake, D.H. 1970. Notes on Some Chrysomelid Beetles from the United States and Argentina. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 72: 320-324.
Borror, entries for dys, onych (1)
Dillon, pp. 706-707, plage LXXII, describes several species (4)
Papp, p. 247, figs. 809-812 (5)
White, pp. 300-301 (3)
Internet References
North Carolina State Entomology Collection lists 12 species with specimens from that state.
Disonycha stenosticha - Texas Entomology
Works Cited
1.Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms
By Donald J. Borror
2.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
By Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.)
3.Peterson Field Guides: Beetles
By Richard E. White
4.A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
By Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence
5.Introduction to North American Beetles
By Charles S. Papp