Numbers
36 spp. in our area, ~150 spp. total
(1)Identification
Large alticines, elytra usually striped, hind pronotal corners angular
(2), or as Ciegler (2007)
(3) puts it:
"The basal margin of the pronotum is distinctive in being anteriorly angulate near the hind angle, so that angle is set farther from the elytra than in most of the beetles," e.g.
incomplete key to spp. in
(4),
D. arizonae and
barberi treated in
(5)
Keys are based on, and designed for, collection specimens. Soon after death, however, the vivid colours begin to fade, and only black remains black.
White, yellow, red become just shades of straw or brown. Live colouration is rarely mentioned in descriptions.
Range
New World; throughout the US & so. Canada
(1)Food
a diverse array of plants; larvae are folivorous
(1), most spp. feed on weeds
(2)Life Cycle
Larvae often found together with adults on host plants
(1)Remarks
Still missing in the guide as of May 2022:
D. antennata Jacoby 1884 (all red);
examples from Mexico
D. funerea (Randall 1838) (all black, resembles Kuschelina lugens);
plus striped species:
D. alabamae Schaeffer 1919 (median vitta close to sublateral)
D. brevicornis Schaeffer 1931 (old records from Colorado, may be based on mislabeled specimens
(4))
D. limbicollis (LeConte 1857) (CA, NV; resembles
D. uniguttata)
D. pluriligata (LeConte 1858)
D. schaefferi Blake 1934
Of some of the latter we may have images, but ID is pending.
Print References
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.
