Subfamily Galerucinae - Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Range · Food · Remarks · Print References · Works Cited

Spotted Cucumber Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata

Bodacious beetle in my salad - Disonycha glabrata

Red Headed Flea Beetle? - Systena frontalis

Stripey smartweed beetle - Disonycha pensylvanica

Unidentified Trirhabda species - Trirhabda

Yellow-green beetle - Trirhabda eriodictyonis? - Trirhabda eriodictyonis - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)

Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Long-horned and Leaf Beetles)

Family Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)

Subfamily Galerucinae (Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Alticinae, now treated as a tribe (Alticini)(1).

Explanation of Names

Galerucinae Latreille 1802

Numbers

By far the largest leaf beetle subfamily, with 13,000 to 15,000 described spp. in >1000 genera of 7 tribes worldwide and ca. 700 spp. in 90 genera of 4 tribes in our area; the flea beetles (Alticini) account for over 60% of the diversity(1)(2).

Range

Worldwide and throughout NA

Food

Most of the galerucines feed on dicots, however some genera may have adapted to monocots. Adults generally feed on pollen and also fresh leaves of their host plants, and the larvae feed on their roots. Many species feed on wild plants, trees and bushes, and many are polyphagous

Remarks

Some are serious agricultural pests, causing damage directly by plant feeding or indirectly by transmitting viruses. Some species have been used in the biological control of weeds.

Print References

Lingafelter S.W., Konstantinov A.S. (2000) The monophyly and relative rank of alticine and galerucine leaf beetles: a cladistic analysis using adult morphological characters. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Entomol. Scand. 30: 397–416.

Works Cited

1.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

2.	A Synopsis of the North American Galerucinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) John A. Wilcox. 1965. New York State Museum and Science Service.

Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 27 March, 2005 - 6:10pm
Additional contributions by john and jane balaban, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, Aaron Schusteff, v belov
Last updated 1 March, 2015 - 9:56pm

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