Tortoise beetle
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| Tortoise beetle | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Cassida viridis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Chrysomelidae |
| Subfamily: | Hispinae |
| Tribes | |
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several; see text |
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The tortoise beetles are an artificial grouping of tribes within the leaf beetle subfamily Hispinae. In past classifications, they have been variously placed as a family ("Cassidae") or a subfamily (Cassidinae); when it was recognized that this group was not monophyletic, it was split and the resulting tribes were incorporated into the Hispinae. Some of the tribes that are considered "tortoise beetles" in the historic sense are the Cassidini, Dorynotini, Hemisphaerotini, Ischyrosonychini, and Mesomphaliini. Their common name arose from the superficial resemblance some species bear to tortoises, the elytra being analogised with the tortoise's carapace.
Some species are easily mistaken by non-entomologists as ladybugs/ladybirds.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Interactive key to the Cassidini
- Chelymorpha cribraria, tortoise beetle on the University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures website
- Hemisphaerota cyanea, palmetto tortoise beetle on the University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures website
Media related to Cassidinae at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Cassidinae at Wikispecies
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