Natural history of Javeta pallida Baly, 1858 on Phoenix palms in India (Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae, Coelaenomenoderini)

Abstract

Members of the Old World hispine tribe, Coelaenomenoderini, are documented on host plants of Arecaceae, Cyperaceae, and Zingiberales. A few species are renowned pests of oil palm, especially in Africa. The host plants and natural history of Javeta pallida Baly, 1858, the only Indian species of the tribe, is reported for the first time. These beetles can densely infest indigenous wild date palms, Phoenix sylvestris (L.) Roxb. (Arecaceae), and also use the introduced date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L., which is an expanding crop in India. Javeta females lay single eggs and cover each with an ootheca. All larval stages mine the leaves and pupation occurs within the larval mine. Adults are exophagous, leaving linear feeding trenches. Natural and induced infestations of Javeta pallida on these two palms were observed and the potential of Javeta pallida as a pest of date palm in India is discussed. Javeta pallida completed development on Phoenix palms in 52–88 days (mean 66.38 days) with egg period 11–15 days (mean 12.8 days), larval period 21–54 days (mean 33.02 days) and pupal period 17–23 days (mean 20.52 days). Elasmus longiventris Verma and Hayat and Pediobius imbreus Walker (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) parasitize the larva and pupa of Javeta pallida.

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

“…Figs 17-18 show six mines in one leaf; however, we are uncertain how many larvae can be sustained by the single leaflet to reach pupation and adulthood. We observed a single larva per mine, agreeing with observations in Javeta pallida Baly, 1858 (Shameem et al 2016) and Chaeridiona thailandica Kimoto, 1998 (Świętojańska andKovac 2007). This contrasts with those mining species whose larvae live gregariously in a common mine (e.g.…”

“…Then she covered the egg with a yellow secretion that turned red brown on drying and formed a crusty oothecal covering. Thrusting single eggs into the leaf lamina is known in some leaf-mining hispines (Chen 1982;Chaboo et al 2010;Shameem et al 2016;Liao et al 2018b), although Taylor (1937) noted that females of Promecotheca species may oviposit on the leaf surface or sink the egg into the leaf and the natal larva starts the mine. In Prionispa champaka Maulik, 1919 (Oncocephalini), the female oviposits 5-6 eggs into a channel she cuts on the leaf (Liao et al 2018a).…”

“…Species of Dactylispa Weise (Hispini), which feed on either monocots or dicots, pupate within the larval leaf mine (Zaitsev 2012). The rice pest, Dicladispa armigera (Olivier, 1808) (Hispini) and the palm-feeder, Javeta pallida (Shameem et al 2016), both have pupation within the larval mine.…”

Architecture, construction, retention, and repair of faecal shields in three tribes of tortoise beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae: Cassidini, Mesomphaliini, Spilophorini)

“…In general, leaf beetles exhibit diverse building behaviours, including oothecae with multi-layered colleterial secretions (e.g., some Cassidinae ), faecal covers ( Kalaichelvan and Verma 2000 ), or with stomach regurgitate ( Jolivet and Verma 2002 ), larval galls (e.g., Sagrinae , Reid and Beatson 2019 ), and pupation chambers of soil, sand (e.g., some Galerucinae , Prathapan and Chaboo 2011 ), faeces ( Cryptocephalinae ; Brown and Funk 2005 ), or salivary ‘foam’ (e.g., some Criocerinae , Tishechkin et al 2011 ). Bruchine adults build walls within seeds to inhibit fighting ( Mano and Toquenaga 2008 ).…”

“…The Blepharida -group comprises ~ 21 genera ( D’Alessandro and Biondi 2023 ) within the hyperdiverse Galerucinae (7145 species: Lingafelter and Konstantinov 2000 ; Nie et al 2017 ); this group is distinguished by larvae that keep a single faecal strand held over the body (Fig. 38 ; Furth 1982 , 2004 ; Furth and Lee 2000 ) or many faecal pellets directly on the dorsum (Figs 39 , 40 ; Prathapan and Chaboo 2011 ; Calcetas et al 2023 ). In Chrysomelinae (~ 3000 species), larval faecal tubes have been reported only in Phola octodecimguttata (Fabricius, 1775) ( Chen 1964 , 1985 ) and is a minor building pattern within this large subfamily.…”