Monoxia inornata Blake

Eiseman, Charles S., Feldman, Tracy S. & Palmer, Michael W., 2024, New larval host records, parasitoid records, and DNA barcoding data for North American leaf-mining leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea), Zootaxa 5549 (1), pp. 1-60 : 47

Monoxia inornata Blake

( Figs. 109–110 , 167 )

Reared specimens. COLORADO: Delta Co., Leroux Creek , 3100 Rd., N of Rte 92, 11.vii.2015, em. 27–29.vii.2015, C.S. Eiseman, ex Grindelia squarrosa , # CSE1860 (5 adults, MLBM) .

Collected specimens. COLORADO: Delta Co., Leroux Creek , 3100 Rd., N of Rte 92, 11.vii.2015, C.S. Eiseman, on Grindelia squarrosa , # CSE1687 (1 adult, MLBM) .

Hosts. * Asteraceae : Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal. Blake (1939) stated that Monoxia inornata “has been collected repeatedly on species of Grindelia ”; no other hosts were reported, but she examined a series from Colorado “which closely resembles this species and which consists of a larva, a pupa, and three shriveled, immature adults... labeled as being found on cottonwood” ( Salicaceae : Populus L.). Clark et al. (2004) suggested that this and previous records of Monoxia on cottonwood may refer to misidentified beetles of another galerucine genus, Tricholochmaea Laboissière. Otherwise , the only other reported host association for M. inornata is one of adults feeding on leaves of Solidago L. ( Asteraceae ) in South Dakota ( Kirk & Balsbaugh 1975).

Biology. Ours appears to be the first rearing record for Monoxia inornata . As with M. angularis and M. elegans on Atriplex , the larvae form full-depth blotch mines that are initiated through the upper epidermis ( Figs. 109–110 ). Frass is in scattered, roughly round pellets, occasionally aggregated into small masses. All of the larvae we reared pupated outside their mines.

Figures

FIGURES 107–117. Leaf mines and larvae of Monoxia spp.; 107: M. elegans on Atriplex canescens; 108: same (transmitted light); 109: M. inornata on Grindelia squarrosa; 110: same; 111: Monoxia sp. 1 on Atriplex hymenelytra (vacated); 112: same (with larva); 113: Monoxia sp. 2 on Eurybia glauca; 114: same mine in transmitted light, showing larva at lower left; 115: externally feeding larva of Monoxia sp. 2 on Eurybia glauca; 116: Monoxia sp. 3 on Isocoma acradenia; 117: same (transmitted light).

FIGURES 162–173. Chrysomeloidea adults; 162: Dibolia cf. obscura; 163: Mantura floridana; 164: Phyllotreta liebecki; 165: Phyllotreta sp. 2; 166: Monoxia elegans; 167: M. inornata; 168: Monoxia sp. 1; 169: Monoxia sp. 2; 170: Monoxia sp. 3; 171: Yingabruxia brisleyi; 172: Zeugophora puberula; 173: Z. varians.