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Photo#734918
Tortoise Beetle - Charidotella purpurata

Tortoise Beetle - Charidotella purpurata
Edmundston, Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada
June 1, 2012
Size: 5,9mm

Images of this individual: tag all
Tortoise Beetle - Charidotella purpurata Tortoise Beetle - Charidotella purpurata

Moved
Moved from bicolor.

Moved

Charidotella sexpunctata bicolor (Fabricius)
This is actually Charidotella sexpunctata bicolor (Fabricius). Note that in C. s. bicolor, which is in the subgenus Charidotella (s. str.), the elytral margin opposite the humeri is clouded (as in this specimen), whereas in C. purpurata (Boheman), which is in the subgenus Chaerocassis, the elytral margin is translucent. There has been a lot of confusion about this as a result of the fact that in their key distinguishing these species, Downie and Arnett (1996: 1400) reversed them in the key couplet.

 
Why would the species without
Why would the species without any spots be called "sexpunctata"? The images on Lech Borowiec's webpage agree with the interpretation we have been consistently using for these two species in which sexpunctata has clear margins and purpurata does not.

C. sexpunctata:
http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/katalog%20internetowy/charidotellasexpunctatafig.htm

C. purpurata:
http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/katalog%20internetowy/charidotellapurpuratafig.htm

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