An Annotated Catalog and Summary of Bionomics of Blister Beetles of the Genus <I>Psalydolytta</I> (Coleoptera: Meloidae)

Abstract

Information on the taxonomy, anatomy, and bionomics of the species of Psalydolytta Peringuey is presented and summarized. Psalydolytta testaceoapicalis Pic, described from Guinea, is placed in the synonymy of P. cineracea (Maklin)(new synonymy). The genus has a disjunct Ethiopian_Indian distribution (42 species in Africa, 10 in India). Adults appear toward the end of the rainy season, are generally nocturnal, and feed largely on flowers and developing grains of wild and cultivated grasses. Adults attracted to lights are sometimes a nuisance because of their ability to produce blisters on human skin. The larva of the Indian P. rouxi (Castelnau) has been recorded as a predator of the eggs of the pyrgomorphid grasshopper Colemania sphenarioides< Bolivar and that of the African P. fusca (Oliver) as a predator of the eggs of the acridid grasshopper Cataloipus fuscocoeruleipes (Sjostedt).