A few leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are reported as specialized to eat the leaves of bromeliads by chewing the surfaces or by mining. They include Acentroptera pulchella Guérin Méneville in southern South America (Mantovani et al., 2005), and Calliaspis rubra (Olivier) which was observed to cause 9.8% leaf area loss to Aechmea nallyi L.B. Smith in eastern Peru (Burgess et al., 2003).
REFERENCES
Burgess, J., Burgess, E., Lowman, M. 2003. Observations of a beetle herbivore on a bromeliad in Peru. Journal of the Bromeliad Society 53:221-224.
Magalhães, N., Ferreira, L. B., Leitão, G., Mantovani, A. 2012. Effects of leaf herbivory on the bromeliad Aechmea blanchetiana: a study of selective feeding by the scraper Acentroptera pulchella. Acta Botanica Brasilica 26: 944-952.
Mantovani, A., Magalhães, N., Teixeira, M.L., Leitão, G., Staines, C.L., Resende, B. 2005. First report on host plants and feeding habits of the leaf beetle Acentroptera pulchella Guérin-Méneville (Chrysomelidae, Hispinae). pp. 153-157 in: Contributions to systematics and biology of beetles. Papers celebrating the 80th birthday of Igor Konstantinovich Lopatin. (Pensoft Series Faunistica No 43.) pp. Sofia, Pensoft.
