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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Longhorn and Leaf Beetles (Chrysomeloidea) » Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae) » Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles (Galerucinae) » Flea Beetles (Alticini) » Disonycha Genus Group » Disonycha

Genus Disonycha

Disonycha xanthomelas? - Disonycha xanthomelas

Disonycha, possibly pennsylvanicus - Disonycha procera

flea beetle collected from Hypericum perfoliatum - Disonycha caroliniana

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 Galerucinae (Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles)

Tribe Alticini (Flea Beetles)

No Taxon (Disonycha Genus Group)

Genus Disonycha

Explanation of Names

Disonycha Chevrolat 1836

'double-clawed'

Numbers

36 spp. in our area, ~150 total(1)

Size

4‒8 mm

Identification

Large alticines, elytra usually striped, hind pronotal corners angular(2)(3)

incomplete key to spp. in Blake (1933) (4), D. arizonae and barberi treated in Blake (1951) (5)

Range

New World; throughout so.Canada and the US(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 Sept. 2024:

D. antennata Jacoby 1884 (all red); examples from Mexico

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.

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.	Peterson Field Guides: Beetles Richard E. White. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Company.

3.	Leaf and Seed Beetles of South Carolina Janet Ciegler. 2007. Clemson University.

4.	Revision of the Beetles of the Genus Disonycha Occuring in America North of Mexico Doris Holmes Blake. 1933. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol 82.

5.	New species of chrysomelid beetles of the genera Trirhabda and Disonycha Doris H. Blake. 1951. Journal of The Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 41, No. 10, pp. 324-328.

Contributed by Cotinis on 1 July, 2004 - 5:51pm
Additional contributions by Mike Boone, Mike Quinn, Boris Bueche, v belov, Edward Ruden, Arturo Santos
Last updated 25 January, 2025 - 6:17pm

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