It began in autumn 2009. Wills Flowers, recently retired from Florida A & M University (FAMU) emailed me from Ecuador, where he was doing researcher and teaching on USAID funds. At the Pichilingue Field Station, Quevedo, Wills noticed nasty ants interfering with a beautiful blue-black adult cassidine. The plant was chopped down but the beetle was feeding on some tender sprouts. The photo that came got my immediate attention (my notes say, “Holy moly – is that an ootheca?”). I began following the life cycle of this beetle vicariously through Wills. Over time, we built up observations, assembled specimens, got the plant identified, and collected a wonderful collection of images. Identifying the beetle species was a little difficult requiring input from Lech Borowiec (Poland) and Rob Westerduijn (in Iquitos). I have never been to Ecuador (regretfully), but now we add a second paper about the natural history of one of its beetles, Discomorpha (Discomorpha) biplagiata on Cordia.
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