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Photo#174975
Beetle - Phaedon desotonis

Beetle - Phaedon desotonis
Sand Springs, Osage County, Oklahoma, USA
March 31, 2008
Size: 3mm (1/8")
Cool beetle. Thorax was sort of a copper color. Please help with ID.

probably Phaedon desotonis Balsbaugh -- det. S.M. Clark
Moved from Phaedon.

moved
to new genus page for now. We got Rob´s expert vote for it. I think we should not make a decision on species level for now, because eight spp. are told to occurr in North America.

 
....
Ok, thanks.

Leaf beetle
Chrysomelinae subfamily. Small size, general appearance, and clear puncture series make me believe it might be a species of Phae*don - but don´t take that as an ID for the moment. Compare some info on north American representatives on this page.
Any info on habitat or possible hostplants?

 
....
It was on Honeysuckle.

 
Phaedon viridis
I agree with Boris. This is probably Phaedon viridis (Black with very slight cupreous hue). Here is a description:
Small, oval, convex species. Pronotum evenly convex, without lateral sulci. Procoxal cavities open behind, prosternum widened posteriorly as process; 3rd tarsal segment distinctly emarginate and bilobed; claws simple.

Broadly oval. Black with very slight cupreous hue. Anterior pronotal margin medially strongly arcuate caudad, paralleling posterior margin. Pronotum finely alutaceous, less shining than elytra. Tarsal claws small. Length 3.2-3.3 mm. Width 2.3-2.5 mm.

 
a bit too fast - P. disotonis rather
should have looked at the info page Boris linked to. Can´t believe the call that purple elytra. Compared with the pictures it seems much more likely it is Phaedon desotonis. More elongate and the pronotum with differt colour as the elytra

 
Good enough for me....
I'll move it. Thanks to both of you!

....after a page is created for it.

 
Still a bit too fast...
It would be safer to back up a step and call this Phaedon sp. Oklahoma is way outside the known range of P. desotonis and the host is wrong also. There are six other species of U.S. Phaedon and I suspect this is one of them. Phaedon species are very similar and I would hesitate to try to offer a species name without seeing a specimen "in the flesh," so to speak.

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