Altica lazulina LeConte

Altica cf. lazulina LeConte (Figs. 89, 103, 158) Reared specimens. CALIFORNIA: Sonoma Co., Bodega Bay, late iii.2017, em. 5–8.v.2017, E. LoPresti, ex Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia, # CSE3636 (2 adults, MLBM). Hosts. * Onagraceae: Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia (Hornem. ex Spreng.) W.L. Wagner & Hoch. Altica lazulina (presumably as adult beetles) has been reported previously from Epilobium adenocaulon Hausskn. and Oenothera suffrutescens (Moc. & Sessé ex Ser.) W.L. Wagner & Hoch (Clark et al. 2004). Biology. The yellow, black-spotted larvae form irregular, full-depth mines with copious frass aggregated in an elongate central mass (Fig. 89). Secondary mines in fresh leaves are established through the lower epidermis. In captivity, the brownish older larvae “window-feed” on the leaf surface, leaving the opposite epidermis intact (Fig. 103). Notes. According to S.M. Clark (in litt.), our specimens likely represent Altica lazulina but confident identification of many of the species in this genus is not currently feasible. We are not aware of any prior records of this or any other Altica species mining leaves. This may be the same beetle that Gates et al. (2002) listed as an unidentified chrysomelid on Oenothera albicaulis var. californica S.Watson (as Oenothera californica Wats.) with a feeding mode of “complete blotch [mine] with internal/external feeding.”