Diet

• Adults: Herbivorous, feeding on leaves and tender plant tissues.

• Larvae: Presumably feed on the tissues of their host plant, but the immature biology of M. azteca is poorly known.

Range

• Mexicaspis azteca is a Mexican tortoise beetle in the leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae, subfamily Cassidinae.

• The species occurs in Guerrero and the Zihuatanejo area, where the warm tropical vegetation provides suitable habitat.

• Around Zihuatanejo, it is best considered occasional rather than one of the tortoise beetles most frequently encountered.

Habitat

• Associated with tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland, scrub, forest edges and secondary vegetation.

• Adults are likely to be found on leaves and low vegetation, particularly in warm, sunny areas.

• Because the host plant is not known, there is no particular plant that can currently be recommended as the best place to search.

Size

• Adult length: approximately 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in).

• Body broadly oval and strongly convex, with the characteristic shield-like form of tortoise beetles.

• The species is particularly distinctive for its reddish-orange to chestnut colour, dark longitudinal sutural area and paired dark rounded markings on the elytra.

• The expanded margins of the pronotum and elytra partially conceal the head and legs when viewed from above.