Abstract
Survey work from 1992–2001 identified 139 species of hispines at the lowland part of La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. The tribe Cephaloleiini was the most speciose with 58 species (41.7%) followed by the Chalepini with 55 (39.5%). The fauna is most closely related to that in South America but with some genera which are more speciose in the Nearctic Region. Plant associations are known for 88 (63.3%) of the species but many of these are merely collecting records, not host plant associations. The first plant associations are reported for Alurnus ornatus, Alurnus salvini, and Acentroptera nevermanni.
Highlights
Hispines comprise half of the subfamily Cassidinae in the family Chrysomelidae within the order Coleoptera (Staines 2002b)
The biology of few species has been studied; most are not associated with a host plant or plant family
From 2001–2006 the focus of the project shifted to a transect survey from La Selva Biological Station to the summit of Volcan Barva
Summary
Hispines comprise half of the subfamily Cassidinae (sensu lato) in the family Chrysomelidae within the order Coleoptera (Staines 2002b). The combined subfamily consists of 6000 species placed in 42 tribes (Staines 2002b). Until an used term is coined for this group, I continue to use “hispines” in the traditional sense of the genera and species in the former subfamily Hispinae (see Seeno and Wilcox 1982 for a list of genera). Larvae are either leaf-miners or free living They have eight pairs of abdominal spiracles which are well developed and dorsally placed; with the eighth abdominal segment terminal, and with free hind margin (Staines 2002b, 2006). The biology of few species has been studied; most are not associated with a host plant or plant family
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