Metachroma floridanum Crotch 1873

Metachroma floridanum Crotch

Metachroma floridanum Crotch, 1873, p. 43.—Horn, 1892, p. 219.

DESCRIPTION.—Between 4.4 and 5.3 mm in length, elongate oblong oval, not very shiny, pronotum dull alutaceous and very finely punctate, elytra not quite so dull, entirely pale yellow-brown except deeper brown jaws; elytral striate punctation fine, closely set, but not deeply impressed and often disappearing before apex.

Head with interocular space approximately half width of head, a well-marked transverse sulcus dividing front from clypeus and a median depressed line on front, finely punctate, alutaceous, pale yellow except reddish brown jaws. Antennae pale, extending below humeri. Prothorax not quite twice as broad as long, not very convex, depressed over head, sides arcuate with a tiny, inconspicuous tooth at each angle; surface dull alutaceous with scattered, very fine punctures, entirely pale yellow-brown. Scutellum pale, alutaceous. Elytra more than three times as long as prothorax and wider, very finely alutaceous, a little more shiny than pronotum with only a trace of intrahumeral sulcus and transverse depression below basal umbones; striate punctures over base very fine and not impressed, coarser below, but becoming fine and inconspicuous towards apex. Body beneath and legs entirely pale, femora not toothed, claws with long tooth. Length, 4.4–5.3 mm; width, 2–2.6 mm.

TYPE.—In Le Conte collection, MCZ, with two other specimens from Capron, Florida.

TYPE-LOCALITY.—St. John’s Bluff, East Florida (Doubleday, collector).

OTHER LOCALITIES.—Florida: Capron; Miami, M. W. Sanderson; South Miami, on lettuce leaf; Palm Beach, on Pithecolobrium seedpod; West Palm Beach, J. E. Porter; Cocoanut Grove, on avocado leaf; Palmetto, on crotalaria pods; Stuart, Bryant; Haulover, F. Knab; Jacksonville, F. Knab; Port Orange; Fort Lauderdale, J. W. Green; St. Petersburg; Sanford, E. S. Ross; New Smyrna, M. Wright. Georgia: Tybee Island, H. A. Wenzel; St. Simons Island; South Carolina: Mount Pleasant, on hibiscus; Hilton Head, on sugar cane; Myrtle Beach; Awendam, on cotton, V. M. Kirk; Pawley’s Island, O. L. Cartwright. North Carolina: Holden Beach. Arkansas: Hot Springs. Tennessee: Lookout Mountain.

Metachroma floridanum is a species of leaf beetle. Its distribution ranges from Florida to North Carolina in the United States.