Natural history of the australian tortoise beetle, notosacantha dorsalis (waterhouse, 1877) (coleoptera: chrysomelidae: cassidinae: notosacanthini) with summary of the genus in Australia

Abstract

The old-world tribe Notosacanthini is hypothesized as a transitional group between "hispine" leaf miners and exophagous tortoise beetles in the Cassidinae tree of life. Their biology, morphology, and genetics may help clarify evolution in the subfamily, yet few species have been studied deeply. Detailed field and rearing studies were conducted for Notosacantha dorsalis (Waterhouse) on the phyllodinous shrub, Acacia crassa Pedley (Fabaceae), in Queensland, Australia. Adults feed on phyllode tissue by biting linear, parallel grooves in the leaf-like phyllode surface. Solitary eggs are laid in short, shallow grooves bitten into the phyllode surface and coated with secretion then with faeces. Hatching larvae mine within the phyllode, depositing frass and larval exuviae near the hatched egg capsule. After consuming most resources of the initial phyllode, larvae cut their way out of the original mine (termed the primary mine) and re-enter a second phyllode, via an entry cut in the cuticle, to make a secondary mine. This entry cut serves to eject frass and exuviae. After a period of feeding, the secondary mine serves as the pupation chamber and the adult exits via the entry cut. We outline two processes for determining the number of instars for mining larvae which showed that N. dorsalis has four instars. Two hymenopteran parasites were collected. Museum specimens of Australian Notosacantha were examined to assess species and their distributions.