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Tribe Cassidini - Tortoise Beetles

unk. tortoise beetle - Helocassis clavata Tortoise beetle - Deloyala lecontii Clavate Tortoise Beetle - Helocassis clavata Golden Tortoise Beetle - Charidotella sexpunctata Tortoise beetle - Charidotella sexpunctata Cassida piperata Parorectis sublaevis? - Parorectis sublaevis just eclosed handraised Deloyala guttata with exuvia, used for article on rearing - Deloyala guttata
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)
Numbers
~30 spp. in 15 genera in our area, >1,700 spp. in ~90 genera worldwide (of which 46 in the New World)(1)(2)
Range
worldwide(2)
Food
hosts: various dicotyledons(1)
Life Cycle
The larvae carry their cast skins and fecal material attached to spines arising from the posterior end of their body, a structure called an "anal fork." The anal fork is movable, and is used to hold the debris over the back of the body, forming a "shield" which deters predation.
Internet References
J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc.. Review of the tortoise beetle genera of the tribe Cassidini
Works Cited
1.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
2.Cassidinae of the world - an interactive manual (by Lech Borowiec and Jolanta Świętojańska)