Diet

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

• Known food plants include Centrosema pubescens, Desmodium spp. and Dioclea megacarpa, all members of the pea family (Fabaceae).

• Larvae: Develop as leaf miners, feeding within the tissues of leaves. This concealed feeding habit makes the larvae much harder to spot than the adults.

Range

• Oxychalepus balyanus is a Neotropical hispine leaf beetle, occurring from Mexico through Central America and into Colombia.

• Around Zihuatanejo, it is occasional. The tropical dry-forest vegetation and abundance of climbing legumes provide suitable habitat, particularly during the rainy season.

Habitat

• Found in tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland edges, scrub, secondary vegetation and areas with abundant legumes.

• Around Zihuatanejo, look closely at leguminous vines and shrubs, particularly Centrosema, Desmodium and related vegetation.

• Adults are usually found directly on foliage, while the larvae remain hidden inside leaves as leaf miners.

Size

• Adult length: approximately 6.3–8.7 mm (0.25–0.34 in).

• Body elongated and somewhat cylindrical, with the characteristic form of hispine leaf beetles.

• The head, antennae and legs are black, while the pronotum and elytra are predominantly orange-yellow with broad black markings.

• The strongly contrasting orange-and-black pattern is one of the easiest features to use when identifying the beetle in the field.