Aulacothorax Explained

Aulacothorax is a genus of leaf 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] Historically considered a problematic member of the tribe Alticini (the flea beetles), the genus is now classified in its own tribe, Serraticollini.

History of research

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 genus Orthaltica. Aulacothorax is the earliest available name for the genus, so the genus Orthaltica was formally placed in synonymy with it in 2017.^[2]

Historically, the genus Aulacothorax (or Orthaltica) was classified as a member of the subfamily Alticinae, later re-ranked as a tribe (Alticini) of the subfamily Galerucinae, based on the presence of enlarged femora in the hind legs. Later studies determined that these enlarged femora lack the metafemoral spring, an internal structure found in the hind leg femora of flea beetles that allows them to jump,^[3] and members of Aulacothorax are incapable of jumping. A phylogenetic study by Douglas et al. (2023) suggested that Aulacothorax should be separated from Alticini and classified within its own tribe, Serraticollini.^[4]

Selected species

• Aulacothorax arabicus (Medvedev, 1997)
• Aulacothorax australis (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax bakeri (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax borneoensis (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax chibi (Takizawa, 2017)
• Aulacothorax coomani (Laboissiere, 1933)
• Aulacothorax copalinus (Fabricius, 1801)
• Aulacothorax exilis Boheman, 1858
• Aulacothorax kirejtshuki (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax konstantinovi (Takizawa, 2017)
• Aulacothorax melinus (Horn, 1889) (poison ivy leaf beetle)
• Aulacothorax mindanaoensis (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax minutiusculus (Csiki, 1939)
• Aulacothorax okinawanus (Gressitt and Kimoto, 1966)
• Aulacothorax orientalis (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax pahangi (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax parkeri (B. White, 1942)
• Aulacothorax rangoonensis (Konstantinov, 1995)
• Aulacothorax rata (Takizawa, 2017)
• Aulacothorax recticollis (J. L. LeConte, 1861)
• Aulacothorax sabahcola (Takizawa, 2017)
• Aulacothorax schereri (Takizawa, 2017)
• Aulacothorax syzygium (Prathapan & Konstantinov, 2013)
• Aulacothorax terminalia (Prathapan & Konstantinov, 2013)
• Aulacothorax tuberculatus (Takizawa, 2017)
• Aulacothorax visayanensis (Konstantinov, 1995)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Orthaltica Crotch, 1873 . 2022-11-24 . www.zin.ru.
2. 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. 10.1649/0010-065X-71.4.791. 91078620.
3. Book: Furth, D.G.. 1988. The jumping apparatus of flea beetles (Alticinae) — The metafemoral spring. Jolivet. P.. Petitpierre. E.. Hsiao. T.H.. Biology of Chrysomelidae. Series Entomologica. 42. Springer. Dordrecht. 10.1007/978-94-009-3105-3_17. 978-94-009-3105-3.
4. 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. 48. 3 . 361–386. 10.1111/syen.12582. free. 2023SysEn..48..361D .