A new species of bromeliad-feeding Cephaloleia Chevrolat (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae) from Costa Rica: evidence from DNA barcodes, larval and adult morphology and insect diets

By

Garcia-Robledo, Carlos
Staines, Charles L.
Kress, W. John

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2015

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

477

Pages

143-155

Subjects

Braulio Carrillo National Park , Bromeliaceae , Cephaloleia kuprewiczae , COI DNA barcode , Pitcairnia arcuata , Pitcairnia brittoniana

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.477.8220

 

Abstract

The Neotropical genus Cephaloleia Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) includes 214 species distributed from the south of Mexico to Argentina. Cephaloleia beetles feed mostly on plants from the order Zingiberales. The interactions between Cephaloleia beetles and their Zingiberales host plants is proposed as one of the oldest and most conservative associations. Here we describe a new species of Cephaloleia (C. kuprewiczae sp. n.) that feeds on two species of bromeliads (Pitcairnia arcuata and P. brittoniana, Bromeliaceae: Pitcairnioideae). Cephaloleia kuprewiczae was previously described as Cephaloleia histrionica. This study includes evidence from DNA barcodes (COI), larval and adult morphology and insect diets that separates C. kuprewiczae from C. histrionica as a new species.