Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Southern Two-spined Leaf Beetle

Cryptocephalus australobispinus Riley & Gilbert

Family Chrysomelidae, Subfamily Cryptocephalinae, Tribe Cryptocephalini

Paratype Cryptocephalus australobispinus specimens in a unit tray curated at the TAMUIC

Known Distribution for Cryptocephalus australobispinus

Source: Riley & Gilbert (1999)

Range: Known range restricted to South Texas (Riley & Gilbert 1999)

Adult Activity: April 23 through May 26 based on 14 specimens collected between 1978 and 1998 (Riley & Gilbert 1999)

Hosts:

Specific plant associations remain unknown; specimens were swept from low vegetation along highways rights-of-way (Riley & Gilbert 1999).
Cryptocephalus bispinus has been collected from species of Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, and Poaceae (Clark et al. 2004).

ID Note:

The pale ground color together with the pattern on the pronotum and elytra will distinguish this species from other Cryptocephalus found in America north of Mexico. It will run to C. bispinus Suffrian, couplet 81, in White's (1968) key and belongs to his "Calidus group." (Riley & Gilbert 1999).

Similar Species:

Seventy-seven species of Cryptocephalus occur in America north of Mexico (Arnett et al. 2002).
Forty-two species of Cryptocephalus occur in Texas (Riley et al. 2003).
Most similar to Cryptocephalus bispinus which occurs in the following states: AL, FL, GA, OK, TX (Riley et al. 2003).

Etymology:

From Latin australis meaning "southern" and bispinus, a reference to the closely related Cryptocephalus bispinus Suffrian (Riley & Gilbert 1999).

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.

Clark, S.M., D.G. LeDoux, T.N. Seeno, E.G. Riley, A.J. Gilbert & 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.

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. & A. J. Gilbert. 1999 (2000). Three new species of Cryptocephalus Geoffroy from the United States and a new United States record (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalinae). Occasional Papers of the Consortium Coleopterorum 3(1): 30-35.

White, R.E. 1968. A Review of the Genus Cryptocephalus in America North of Mexico (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera). USNM Bulletin 290. 124 pp.