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Species Helocassis clavata - Clavate Tortoise Beetle

Odd Larva - Helocassis clavata Beetle - Helocassis clavata Clavate Tortoise Beetle - Helocassis clavata Unknown Bug and Garden Pest - Helocassis clavata Chrysomelidae, dorsal - Helocassis clavata Plagiometriona clavata - Helocassis clavata Clavate Tortoise Beetle - Helocassis clavata tortoise beetle - Helocassis clavata
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 Cassidini (Tortoise Beetles)
Genus Helocassis
Species clavata (Clavate Tortoise Beetle)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Orig. Comb: Cassida clavata Fabricius, 1798
Syn: Plagiometriona clavata (Fabricius)
Explanation of Names
Helocassis clavata (Fabricius, 1798) (1)
clavata 'clubbed'
Numbers
2 sspp.(2)(3)
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
e. NA to AZ / Mex. to S. Amer. - Map (3)(2)
P. c. clavata e. NA to Great Plains; P. c. testudinaria so. US (AZ-LA) to S. America(3)
Food
ground-cherries (Physalis), Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), and Solanum spp. (Solanaceae)(4)
Life Cycle
Egg Larva Adult
See Also
Parorectis callosa (Boheman)
- Range: se US (SC-FL-AL, TX; on Solanaceae)
Det. E. G. Riley, 2010
Print References
Riley, E.G., S.M. Clark, and A.J. Gilbert. 2001. New records, nomenclatural changes, and taxonomic notes for select North American leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Insecta Mundi 15(1): 1-17. (2)
Works Cited
1.Cassidinae of the world - an interactive manual (by Lech Borowiec and Jolanta Świętojańska)
2.New records, nomenclatural changes, and taxonomic notes for select North American leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
Riley, E.G., S.M. Clark, and A.J. Gilbert. 2001. Insecta Mundi 176: 1-17.
3.Catalog of Leaf Beetles of America North of Mexico
Ed Riley, Shawn Clark, and Terry Seeno. 2003. Coleopterists Society.
4.Host plants of leaf beetle species occurring in the United States and Canada
Clark et al. 2004. Coleopterists Society, Special Publication no. 2, 476 pp.