Subspecies Physonota calochroma floridensis - Geiger Tortoise Beetle

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Remarks · Print References · Internet References

Geiger tortoise beetle - Physonota calochroma

Weird bugs in my Geiger - Physonota calochroma

Eurypepla calochroma? - Physonota calochroma

colorful glittery beetle - Physonota calochroma

Tortoise beetle - Miami - Physonota calochroma

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)

Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Longhorn and Leaf Beetles)

Family Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)

Subfamily Cassidinae (Tortoise Beetles and the Hispines)

Tribe Ischyrosonychini

Genus Physonota

Species calochroma (Geiger Tree Tortoise Beetle)

Subspecies floridensis (Geiger Tortoise Beetle)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

formerly Physonota calochroma floridensis

Size

8-11 mm

Identification

live adults are brilliant lime green with a black spot in the middle of the pronotum; dead museum specimens are dull yellow to cream-colored - very different from live animals

Range

Florida: from Palm Beach to Key West

Food

feeds on the Geiger Tree (Cordia sebestena)

Remarks

First placed in the genus Eurypepla by Blake in 1966; listed under that genus by Borowiec in his World Catalog of Cassidinae in 1999.

Print References

World Catalog of Cassidinae by Lech Borowiec, University of Wroclaw, Poland, 1999.

Internet References

taxonomic history plus synonyms, host plant, subspecies, and distribution (Cassidinae of the World)

preserved adult image (Cassidinae of the World)

description - PDF doc of adult, larva, pupa [with drawings], and distribution in Florida (Robert Woodruff, Florida Dept. of Agriculture)

Contributed by Alan Chin Lee on 2 March, 2005 - 9:36pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod
Last updated 3 April, 2005 - 9:51pm

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