Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Anacua Tortoise Beetle

Coptocycla texana (Schaeffer, 1933)

Family Chrysomelidae, Subfamily Cassidinae, Tribe Cassidini

Anacua Tortoise Beetle - Coptocycla texana

(Frass-carrying larva (left) and three adult beetles all on the undersides of a Anacua leaves)

Donna, Hidalgo Co., Texas - March 17, 1999 (M Quinn)

Texas County Map of the Anacua Tortoise Beetle

County Record Data from E.G. Riley, Dec. 2005

Map of Anacua - Ehretia anacua specimens in the MBG

(Map from Missouri Botanical Garden's VAST database)

Distribution of Anacua Tortoise Beetle should closely mirror the distribution of its host Anacua.

Range: Eastern Mexico north to Central Texas.

Host: Restricted to Anacua - Ehretia anacua, family Boraginaceae. (Info from Native Plant Project)

Similar Species: There are many species of Coptocycla, but only C. texana reaches the United States.

Etymology:

Coptocycla

copt, -o (G). Cut; strike
cycl, -o, =us (G). A circle, wheel

References:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press. 861 pp.

Barber, H.S., 1916. A review of North American tortoise beetles (Chrysomelidae; Cassidinae.). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., 18: 113-127.

Blackwelder, R. E., 1946. Checklist of the Coleopterous insects of Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and South America, part 4. Bull. Smithson. Inst. USNM, 185: 733-757.

Borowiec, L., 1995. Tribal classification of the cassidoid Hispinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Pp. 541-558 in: J. Pakaluk, S.A. Slipiński. (editors) Biology, Phylogeny, and Classification of Coleoptera: Papers Celebrating the 80th Birthday of Roy A. Crowson, Warsaw. xii + 558 pp.

Borror, D.J. 1960. Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms. National Press Books, Palo Alto. v + 134 pp.

Clark, S.M., D.G. LeDoux, T.N. Seeno, E.G. Riley, A.J. Gilbert and J.M. Sullivan. 2004. Host plants of leaf beetle species occurring in the United States and Canada (Coleoptera: Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae, Chrysomelidae exclusive of Bruchinae). Coleopterists Society, Special Publication no. 2, 476 pp.

Olmstead, K.L., & Denno, R.F. 1992. Cost of shield defense for tortoise beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Environmental Entomology 17: 237-243.

Olmstead, K.L., & Denno, R.F. 1993. Effectiveness of tortoise beetle larval shields against different predator species. Ecology 74: 1394 1405.

Riley, E.G. 1986. Review of the tortoise beetle genera of the tribe Cassidini occurring in America North of Mexico (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). J. New York Entomol. Soc., 94: 98-114.

Riley, E. G., S.M. Clark, & T.N. Seeno. 2003. Catalog of the leaf beetles of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae and Chrysomelidae, excluding Bruchinae). Coleopterists Society, Special Publication no. 1, 290 pp.

Schaeffer, C., 1933. Notes on some Hispini and Cassidini and descriptions of new species (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 9: 103-109.

Wilcox, J.A., 1975. Chrysomelidae. in: R.H. Arnett Jr., Checklist of the beetles of North and Central America and the West Indies. North American Beetle Fauna Series. Flora & Fauna Publications, Gainesville, 166 pp.