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Leaf Beetle
16.713, -92.6123
Field Notes
Description:
This Leaf Beetle is similar to the two different Oedemerid beetles found in the same place at the same time. This one is slightly smaller at 6 mm in length instead of the 1 cm length of the other two, however the color patterns can be confusing to a predator, with all of them in the same place. I believe that these three are mimics of an as yet unseen Lycid beetle model. Lycids are usually toxic and have the same black and orange color patterns. These three also have a kind of net-wing mimicking design of the elytra. The other two are Oedemerid beetles and this one is a Chrysomelid beetle (Subfamily Hispinae).
For the two Oedemerids see: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/523525059/fullscreen and http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/2147262182/fullscreen.
Habitat:
Woody bush, Rancho Nuevo Park, 10 km east of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, 2,200 meters.
Notes:
This beetle is also similar to a nearby spotting of another hispine leaf beetle from San Cristobal de Las Casas, see (http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/1679063674/fullscreen). However, this one is twice the size (6 mm versus 3 mm) and has two prominent ridges down each of the elytra which the small species lacks.
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