Natural history of Platypria (Platypria) hystrix (Fabricius, 1798) on Fabaceae host plants, with notes on other Platypria species in India (Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae, Hispini)

By

Ranade, Sachin
Prathapan, Kaniyarikkal
Ghate, Hemant V.
Chaboo, Caroline Simmrita

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1031

Pages

59--84

Subjects

Erythrina , Gouania , hispine , leaf miner , life history , Mucuna , Pueraria , Ziziphus

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1031.60129

 

Abstract

The leaf-beetle genus Platypria Guérin-Méneville, 1840 comprises two subgenera and 34 species (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Hispini). Host plants are documented for eight species and indicate mostly perennial species of Fabaceae and Rhamnaceae. Larvae and pupae have been documented for two Platypria species. This paper presents novel natural history data, based on a field study of populations of Platypria (Platypria) hystrix (Fabricius, 1798) on Erythrina stricta Roxb. and Pueraria phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth. in Kerala, south India and on Erythrina variegata L., Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Maes. & S. Almeida and Mucuna pruriens (L) DC in Assam, northeast India. Three new Fabaceae hosts are reported for P. (P.) hystrix. Brief notes and new host records, based on field observations, are also provided for the other three species of Platypria in India – P. (P.) chiroptera Gestro, 1899, P. (P.) echidna Guérin-Méneville, 1840 and P. (P.) erinaceus (Fabricius, 1801). Platypria females slit the leaf to lay a single egg which is covered with secretions that harden as an ootheca, the egg covering in Cassidinaes. l. There are five larval stages, each with the typical ‘hispine’ mining form and behaviour – a flattened cream-coloured body, chitinised head capsule and claws, and feeding on mesophyll and leaving irregular blotch mines on the host leaves. Pupation occurs in an independent pupal mine and lasts about a week. These observations suggest new potential phylogenetic character hypotheses that can stimulate better data collection on leaf-mining Cassidinae and help resolve evolutionary patterns amongst these basal mining genera.