Camptosomata are the case-bearing leaf beetles or camptosomates, named for their larval habit of carrying a case of waste material. This group consists of two subfamilies of
Chrysomelidae
The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...
(leaf beetles):
Lamprosomatinae and
Cryptocephalinae
The Cryptocephalinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), and belong to the group of case-bearing leaf beetles called the Camptosomata.
The tribes Fulcidacini and Clytrini were formerly considered subfamilies of their own, and ...
(which include the former
Chlamisinae and
Clytrinae).
Each case begins as a wrapping that the mother creates by laying plates of fecal material around each egg. She begins at one end of the egg and turns it with the addition of each plate. She then closes it by creating a "roof" at the other end. When the larva hatches from the egg, it opens the roof of the egg case. it then extends it head and legs from this opening, flips the case over its back and crawls away. Larval camptosomates add to and expand this case with their own waste materials as they grow. They eventually seal off the opening where their head and legs were and pupate inside. When they metamorphose into adults, these beetles then cut a circle around the apex of the case, pop off the cap, and crawl out, ready to feed, mate, and start the cycle over again.
[Brown & Funk (2005)]
File:Exema larval case.jpg, '' Exema'' larval case
File:Exema larva.jpg, ''Exema'' larva
File:Neochlamisus larval case.jpg, ''Neochlamisus
''Neochlamisus'' is a genus of leaf beetles in the tribe Fulcidacini (the warty leaf beetles). They are members of the case-bearing leaf beetle group, the Camptosomata. Measuring 3–4 millimeters in length as adults, they are cryptic, supe ...
'' larval case
File:Neochlamisus larva.jpg, ''Neochlamisus'' larva removed from fecal case
Footnotes
References
* (2005): Aspects of the natural history of ''Neochlamisus'' (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): fecal-case-associated life history and behavior, with a method for studying insect constructions. ''Annals of the Entomological Society of America'' 98(5): 711–725.
DOI:10.1603/0013-8746(2005)098 711:AOTNHO.0.CO;2HTML abstract
* (1988): Biology of Camptosomata Clytrinae - Cryptocephalinae - Chlamisinae - Lamprosomatinae. ''In:'' : ''Biology of Chrysomelidae'': 513–552. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.
Chrysomelidae
{{Chrysomelidae-stub