Anisostena cf. perspicua (Horn)

Eiseman, Charles S., Feldman, Tracy S. & Palmer, Michael W., 2024, New larval host records, parasitoid records, and DNA barcoding data for North American leaf-mining leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea), Zootaxa 5549 (1), pp. 1-60 : 9

Anisostena cf. perspicua (Horn)

( Figs. 26 , 126 )

Reared specimen. KANSAS: Douglas Co., Baldwin City, Baldwin Woods , 2.vii.2015, em. 8.vii.2015, C.S. Eiseman, ex Elymus macgregorii , # CSE1665 (1 adult, MLBM) .

Collected specimen. KANSAS: Douglas Co., Baldwin City, Baldwin Woods , 2.vii.2015, C.S. Eiseman, on Elymus macgregorii , # CSE1665 (1 adult, MLBM) .

Host. * Poaceae : Elymus macgregorii R.E.Brooks & J.J.N.Campb. Adults of Anisostena perspicua have been collected on Bothriochloa Kuntze , Sporobolus R.Br. , and Tridens Roem. & Schult. ( Thomas & Werner 1981) .

Biology. We examined three preserved leaf mines from this collection. In two leaves, the egg is 1–2 mm from the apex, and twisting of the leaves makes further details difficult to discern. In the third, the egg is 13 mm from the apex, deposited on the concave leaf surface. The egg is largely covered with chewed leaf bits, and the leaf surface in the immediate vicinity has been chewed or rasped. The oviposition habits of this species are thus similar to those of A. lecontii (above) and A. ariadne (Newman) , the only other Anisostena species whose leaf mine has previously been described in any detail ( Ford & Cavey 1982).

Mines are full-depth, occupying most of the leaf’s width for approximately the apical 11 cm ( Fig. 26 ). The minute, elongate frass particles are scattered throughout, and are not conspicuously packed at the leaf apex as in A. lecontii . At the time of collection, one mine contained a yellow larva, one a very active red pupa (which emerged as an adult six days later), and one was empty with an adult feeding on the surface of the same leaf. Adult feeding produces long stripes between veins, leaving the opposite epidermis intact.

Notes. The identification of these beetles is tentative; recognition of several Anisostena species is extremely difficult despite relatively recent taxonomic publications (S.M. Clark, in litt.). If confirmed as A. perspicua , Kansas would be a new state record for this southwestern species ( Staines 2015).

Figures

FIGURES 23–26. Leaf mines of Anisostena spp.; 23: A. californica on Bromus sp.; 24: A. funesta on Paspalum pubiflorum; 25: A. lecontii on Arundinaria tecta; 26: A. cf. perspicua on Elymus macgregorii.

FIGURES 122–140. Chalepini adults; 122: Anisostena californica; 123: A. funesta; 124: A. kansana; 125: A. lecontii; 126: A. cf. perspicua; 127: Baliosus californicus; 128: B. nervosus (reared from Alnus serrulata); 129: B. nervosus with DNA barcode differing from that of previous specimen by>10% (reared from Tilia americana); 130: Brachycoryna hardyi; 131: B. pumila; 132: Chalepus bicolor; 133: C. walshii walshii; 134: Glyphuroplata pluto; 135: Microrhopala excavata cyanea; 136: M. excavata excavata; 137: M. laetula; 138: same; 139: M. rubrolineata; 140: M. vittata; 141: M. xerene.