Aulacothorax

(Redirected from Orthaltica)

Aulacothorax is a genus of flea beetles in the family Chrysomelidae. There are currently 51 described species in Aulacothorax found worldwide, 40 of which are found in the Indomalayan realm.[1][2]

Aulacothorax
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea
Family: Chrysomelidae
Subfamily: Galerucinae
Tribe: Alticini
Genus: Aulacothorax
Boheman, 1858
Type species
Aulacothorax exilis
Boheman, 1858
Synonyms
  • Orthaltica Crotch, 1873
  • Leptotrix Horn, 1889
  • Micrantipha Blackburn, 1896
  • Livolia Jacoby, 1903
  • Leptotrihaltica Heikertinger, 1925
  • Micrepitrix Laboissiere, 1933
  • Serraticollis White, 1942
  • Epithrella Medvedev, 1993
  • Livoliella Medvedev, 1997

The genus was originally created in 1858 for a single species described from Tahiti, Aulacothorax exilis, which was placed in Scydmaenidae (now considered a subfamily of Staphylinidae). Recently, the holotype of this species was rediscovered in the collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, and it was found to belong to the flea beetle genus Orthaltica. Aulacothorax is the earliest available name for the genus, so the genus Orthaltica was formally placed in synonymy with it in 2017.[3]

Aulacothorax has historically been difficult to place within either of Alticini or Galerucinae sensu stricto (or Galerucini in some classifications). A recent phylogenetic study suggested that Aulacothorax should be separated from Alticini and classified within its own tribe, Serraticollini.[1]

Selected species edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Douglas, H.B.; Konstantinov, A.S.; Brunke, A.J.; Moseyko, A.G.; Chapados, J.T.; Eyres, J.; Richter, R.; Savard, K.; Sears, E.; Prathapan, K.D.; Ruan, Y.; Dettman, J.R. (2023). "Phylogeny of the flea beetles (Galerucinae: Alticini) and the position of Aulacothorax elucidated through anchored phylogenomics (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticini)". Systematic Entomology. Early View (3): 361–386. Bibcode:2023SysEn..48..361D. doi:10.1111/syen.12582.
  2. ^ "Orthaltica Crotch, 1873". www.zin.ru. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
  3. ^ Bezděk, J.; Konstantinov, A.S. (2017). "Forgotten Aulacothorax Boheman, 1858, a Senior Synonym of Orthaltica Crotch, 1873 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini)". The Coleopterists Bulletin. 71 (4): 791–795. doi:10.1649/0010-065X-71.4.791. S2CID 91078620.