Chrysochus Explained
Chrysochus is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It is known from North America, Europe and Asia.
Etymology
The name of the genus is derived from the Greek word, meaning "goldsmith".[1]
Taxonomic history
In 1836, the genus Chrysochus was first established by Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat in Dejean's Catalogue des Coléoptères, including the species Chrysomela asiatica Pallas, 1771, C. aurata Fabricius, 1775 and C. pretiosa Fabricius, 1792 (now Chrysochares asiaticus, Chrysochus auratus and Chrysochus asclepiadeus, respectively). Chrysomela praetiosa was designated as the type species of the genus by Sylvain Auguste de Marseul in 1864.[2]
The generic name Chrysochus Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 is a conserved name. It was threatened by Eumolpus in the sense used by Kugelann in Illiger, 1798, which included Chrysomela praetiosa. An application to conserve Chrysochus and other names by suppressing Eumolpus Illiger, 1798 was accepted by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 2012.[3] [4]
Species
There are at least eight described species in Chrysochus. Six are found in the Palearctic realm,[5] and only two are found in North America.
List of Chrysochus species| Scientific name | Authority | Range | Common name | Image |
|---|
| Chrysochus asclepiadeus | (Pallas, 1773) | Widespread across Europe, also found in Kazakhstan and Turkey | | |
| Chrysochus auratus | (Fabricius, 1775) | Eastern North America | Dogbane beetle | |
| Chrysochus brevefasciatus | Pic, 1934[6] | Shanghai, China | | |
| Chrysochus chinensis | Baly, 1859[7] | Central, North and Northeast China, Japan, Mongolia and the Russian Far East | | |
| Chrysochus cobaltinus | LeConte, 1857 | Western United States and British Columbia | Blue milkweed beetle | |
| Chrysochus globicollis | Lefèvre, 1888 | Northeast China, the Russian Far East and North Korea | | |
| Chrysochus goniostoma | Weise, 1889 | North and Northeast China, Mongolia, and the Russian Far East | | |
| Chrysochus sikhima | Jacoby, 1908 | Sikkim, India | | | |
Another species, Chrysochus mniszechi, was described in 1877 by Édouard Lefèvre, from three specimens he had seen (one in the collection of, and two from Henry Deyrolle's). While he did not know where the specimens were collected from, Lefèvre thought that they probably came from North America.[8]
The following species, all from the Oriental realm, were formerly included in Chrysochus. They were transferred to the genera Parheminodes and Platycorynus in 2021:[9]
Biology
All species of Chryochus feed on plants in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) and Asclepiadaceae (milkweed) families. A small mutation has allowed the two North American species, C. auratus and C. cobaltinus, in particular to feed on the plant species containing cardenolides, while all other species of the genus feed on plant species without cardenolides.[13]
Further reading
- Dolgovskaya. M.Y.. Volkovitsh. M.G.. Reznik. S.Y.. Moseyko. A. G.. Milbrath. L. R.. 3. 2016. Host specificity of Asian Chrysochus Chevr. in Dej. (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae) and their potential use for biological control of invasive Vincetoxicum species. Entomological Review. 96. 7. 826–830. 10.1134/S0013873816070022. 41525270.
Notes and References
- Encyclopedia: Chevrolat. L.A.A.. 1843. Chrysochus. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57479718. d'Orbigny. C.. Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle. 3. MM. Renard, Martinet et Cie.. Paris. 652.
- Yves. Bousquet. Patrice. Bouchard. 2013 . The genera in the second catalogue (1833–1836) of Dejean's Coleoptera collection. ZooKeys. 282. 1–219. 10.3897/zookeys.282.4401. 3677338. 23794836 . free .
- A.G.. Moseyko. E.. Sprecher-Uebersax. I.. Löbl. 2010. Case 3519 Eumolpus Weber, 1801, Chrysochus Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 and Bromius Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 (Insecta, Coleoptera, chrysomelidae): proposed conservation of usage. The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 67. 3. 218–224. 10.21805/bzn.v67i3.a10. 83763033.
- ICZN. 2012. Opinion 2298 (Case 3519) Eumolpus Weber, 1801, Chrysochus Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 and Bromius Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 (Insecta, Coleoptera, chrysomelidae): usage conserved. The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 69. 2. 147–149. 10.21805/bzn.v69i2.a6. 83692416. The Commission has conserved the usage of the generic names Eumolpus Weber, 1801, Chrysochus Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 and Bromius Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 by suppressing the name Eumolpus Illiger, 1798..
- Book: Moseyko. A. G.. Sprecher-Uebersax. E.. 2010. Eumolpinae. https://books.google.com/books?id=qt8zDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA620. Löbl. I.. Smetana. A.. Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Volume 6. Chrysomeloidea. Stenstrup, Denmark. Apollo Books. 619–643. 978-87-88757-84-2.
- Pic. M.. 1934. Nouveautés diverses. Mélanges Exotico–Entomologiques. 63. 1–36.
- Baly. J. S.. 1859. Descriptions of new genera and species of Phytophagous insects. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 3. 4. 20. 124–128. 10.1080/00222935908697096.
- E.. Lefèvre. 1877. Descriptions de Coléoptères nouveaux ou peu connus de la Famille des Eumolpides (2e partie). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 5. 7. 309–326.
- Moseyko. A.G.. 2020. 15 January 2021. Notes on Asiatic Eumolpinae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). Entomological Review. 100. 6. 843–862. 10.1134/S0013873820060123. 234621478 .
- Jacoby. M.. 1884. Descriptions of new genera and species of phytophagous Coleoptera collected by Dr. B. Hagen at Serdang (East Sumatra). Notes from the Leyden Museum. 6. 201–230.
- Book: Jacoby, M.. 1908. Bingham. C. T.. Coleoptera. Chrysomelidae. Vol. 1. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor & Francis. London.
- Book: Baly, J. S.. 1864. Descriptions of new genera and species of Phytophaga. J.S. Baly. Stationer's Hall.
- Pierre. Jolivet. Krishna K.. Verma. 2008. Eumolpinae – a widely distributed and much diversified subfamily of leaf beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews. 1. 1. 3–37. 10.1163/187498308X345424.
