Faecal-shield

Guides

• Cassidini

  tortoise beetles

  Cassidini is a large tribe of tortoise beetles within the leaf beetle subfamily Cassidinae, comprising approximately 40 genera and 600 species worldwide. Members are commonly known as "tortoise beetles" due to their domed, shield-like appearance. A 2017 phylogenetic analysis based on morphological characters found Cassidini to be nonmonophyletic with respect to Aspidimorphini, leading to the formal synonymization of the latter with Cassidini; the same study suggested Ischyrosonychini should also be included. Larvae construct distinctive defensive shields from exuviae and faeces using a telescopic anus, a trait that may represent a synapomorphy for the crown-clade Cassidinae.

  ColeopteraChrysomelidaeCassidinaetortoise-beetlesfaecal-shieldlarval-defensetelescopic-anusworldwide-distributionAspidimorphini-synonymizedphylogenetic-revision-needed