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[Vol. 94 
Table 3. The number of pupae and pupal groups reared in the lab producing 
parasitoids, teneral adults and not developing. 
N 
Pupae 
% 
Pupal Groups 
N % 
Parasitoids 
Chalcidae 
18 
4.8 
5 
18.5 
Tachinidae 
36 
9.5 
9 
33.3 
Adults 
258 
68.4 
27 
100.0 
Undev. pupae 
65 
17.2 
13 
48.1 
Totals 
377 
100.0 
27 
100.0 
Adults 
Females terminated their care when adult beetles began to eclose. 
Freshly eclosed adults are a pale tan color and a week or more 
passes before elytra harden. Tenerals remain loosely aggregated for 
several days feeding heavily on leaves of the natal plant or nearby 
shoots before dispersing. No mating activity of predispersal adults 
was observed. The number of days between eclosion and oviposition 
for both teneral females and guarding mothers remains undeter- 
mined. Marked females kept on potted plants lived over most of one 
wet season and produced a succession of clutches. 
Sex Ratio 
The ratio of the sexes at eclosion was examined by recording the 
number of male and female tenerals emerging from twenty pupal 
masses collected in May 1986. Males were more numerous in ten, 
females in seven and the sexes equally represented in three. Males 
comprised 50.5 percent of all individuals (n = 378). Thus, there is no 
difference in the representation of the sexes above what is expected 
by chance. If males were competing strongly among themselves for 
sister matings prior to dispersal and if sex ratio were heritable, then 
mothers might be expected to lay more female than male eggs 
(Hamilton 1967). 
Sexual dimorphism 
Acromis sparsa is easily distinguished from other Cassidinae in 
Panama by its sparsely pigmented, translucent and broad elytra 
which extend roughly half of the body’s width to each side of the 
abdomen (Fig. 4). Additionally, striking differences exist in the 
shape of some individuals. I examined morphological differences 
between the sexes by taking six measurements, three from the elytra, 
