Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Eggplant Tortoise Beetle

Gratiana pallidula (Boheman)

Family Chrysomelidae, Subfamily Cassidinae, Tribe Cassidini

Chattahoochee River NRA
Abbots Bridge, Fulton Co., Georgia
September 3, 2003 (Troy Bartlett)

Texas County Records for Gratiana pallidula

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

State Records for Gratiana pallidula

Data from Riley et al. 2003

Host: Solanum sp., family Solanaceae (Clark et al. 2004)

Similar Species: There are seven species of Gratiana in South America. Only Gratiana pallidula occurs in the US (Arnett et al. 2002).

Taxonomy:

Gratiana pallidula (Boheman, 1854)
Cassida pallidula Boheman, 1854
Cassida texana Crotch, 1873

Weblinks:

Tortoise Beetle - TAMU
Gratiana pallidula (Boheman, 1854) - Lech Borowiec and Jolanta Świętojańska

Photo: Habitus - Lech Borowiec and Jolanta Świętojańska

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 the North American tortoise beetles (Chrysomelidae; Cassidae). Proceedings of the Entomology Society of Washington 43:113-127.

Barrows, E.M., 1979. Life cycles, mating, and color change in tortoise beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). Coleopterists Bulletin 33: 9–16.

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.

Boheman, C. H., 1854. Monographia Cassididarum. Tomus secundus. Holmiae, 506 pp. + 2 tab.

Boheman, C. H., 1856. Catalogue of Coleopterous Insects in the collection of the British Museum, Part IX, Cassididae. London.

Buzzi, Z.J. 1994. Host plants of Neotropical Cassidinae. Pp. 205-212. in: P.H. Jolivet, M.L. Cox., E. Petitpierre. (editors) Novel aspects of the biology of Chrysomelidae. Kluver Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

Champion, G. C., 1893-1894. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Coleoptera. Vol. VI. Part 2. Phytophaga. Cassididae and appendix to Hispidae. 1893: 125-164, 1894: 165-249, tab. 5-13.

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.

Crotch, G.R. 1873. Materials to the study of the Phytophaga of the United States. Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Philadelphia. 1873: 19-83.

Eisner, T. & M. Eisner. 2000. Defensive use of a fecal thatch by a beetle larva (Hemisphaerota cyanea). Ecology, 97(6): 2632-2636.

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., Clark, S.M., Flowers, R.W., Gilbert, A.J., 2002. 124. Chrysomelidae Latreille 1802. Pp. 617-691. in: R.H. Arnett, M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley, J.H. Frank (editors) American Beetles, Volume 2, Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press, Boca Raton.

Riley, E.G., Clark, S.M., Gilbert, A.J., 2001. New records, nomenclatural changes, and taxonomic notes for select North American leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Insecta Mundi, 15: 1-17.

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.

Riley, E.G. & W.R Enns. 1979. An annotated checklist of Missouri leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Trans. Missouri Acad. Scien., Biol. Scien., 13: 53-83.

Wapshere, A.H. 1988. Prospects for the biological control of silver-leaf nightshade, Solanum elaeagnifolium, in Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 39(2): 187-197.

White, R.E. 1975. The identity of Gratiana lutescens (Boh.) and G. pallidula (Boh.) (Cassidinae: Chrysomelidae). U. S. Dept. Agr. Coop. Econ. Ins. Rpt., 25 (10): 166.

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.