Mantura chrysanthemi (Koch, 1803)

Eiseman, Charles S., 2015, Notes on Leaf-Mining Chrysomelidae (Coleoptera) in New England, The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (3), pp. 453-458 : 456

Mantura chrysanthemi (Koch, 1803) and Mantura floridana Crotch, 1873

On 20 May in Northfield, Massachusetts (42.646967° N, 72.424858° W), I collected larvae of M. chrysanthemi mining leaves of Rumex acetosella L. ( Polygonaceae ). They fed for at least another four days before burrowing into soil and emerged as adults by 6 June. Comparing the mines with those from which I reared M. floridana on Fallopia scandens (L.) ( Polygonaceae ) ( Eiseman 2014), I do not believe they can be distinguished. However, a difference is apparent in my photographs of the larvae of the two species. Whereas in M. chrysanthemi the abdomen is covered with dark spots that show clearly through the leaf epidermis in my photographs of the mines, these spots are minute in M. floridana and the larva appears to be plain yellow when viewed through the leaf epidermis. The larger lateral spots on M. chrysanthemi are about equal in width to the hind femur ( Fig. 9 ), whereas on M. floridana they are less than onethird the width of the hind femur ( Fig. 10 ).

Figures

Figs. 9–13. 9) Larva of Mantura chrysanthemi; 10) Larva of Mantura floridana; 11) Larva of Phyllotreta chalybeipennis; 12) Mostly linear mine of P. chalybeipennis; 13) Blotch mine of P. chalybeipennis, with one larva inside and one entering at right.