Supraspecific taxonomy of the flea beetle genus Blepharida Chevrolat, 1836 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in the Afrotropical Region and description of Afroblepharida subgen. nov.

Abstract

The supraspecific taxonomy of the species traditionally attributed to the flea beetle genusBlepharidaChevrolat, 1836 is discussed. A cladistic analysis, based on 30 morphological characters of traditionalBlepharidaspecies, has revealed that two genera occur in Sub-Saharan Africa:CalothecaHeyden, 1887 andBlepharidinaBechyné, 1968. The latter genus is known from Africa, and probably also Madagascar, and has two subgenera:Blepharidinas.str. andAfroblepharidasubgen. nov. Twenty-seven traditionalBlepharidaspecies are here attributed to the genusCalothecaHeyden, while eighteen species are assigned to the genusBlepharidinaBechyné. FourBlepharidinaspecies,antinorii(Chapuis, 1879),gedyei(Bryant, 1948),scripta(Weise, 1904) andsomaliensis(Bryant, 1948), belong to the new subgenusAfroblepharida. The following new synonymies are established:Eutheca conradsiWeise, 1906= Eutheca erlangeriWeise, 1907 syn. nov. =Blepharidella irregularisBryant, 1945 syn. nov.;Blepharida marginalisWeise, 1902 =Blepharida monticolaWeise, 1926 syn. nov. =Blepharida ugandaeBryant, 1944 syn. nov.;Blepharida inornataJacoby, 1895 =Blepharida semisulcataAchard, 1922 syn. nov.;Blepharidella lewiniWeise in Lewin, 1912 =Blepharidella picticollisBryant, 1945 syn. nov.;Podontia nigrotessellataBaly, 1865= Blepharidella rubrosignataBryant, 1945 syn. nov.= Blepharidella variabilisBryant, 1945 syn. nov.;Blepharida ornataBaly, 1881= Blepharida freyiBechyné, 1954 syn. nov.;Podontia reticulataBaly, 1865= Blepharida guttulaBryant, 1944 syn. nov.;Blepharida antinoriiChapuis, 1879 =Blepharida sudanicaBryant, 1944 syn. nov.;Blepharida scriptaWeise, 1904= Blepharida geminataBryant, 1944 syn. nov. In addition:Blepharida plagipennisAchard, 1922, its locality certainly mislabeled, is transferred to the New World genusNotozonaChevrolat, 1837;Calotheca thunbergiis proposed as the new name forBlepharida stolida(Thunberg, 1808). Finally, an updated catalogue of the known species ofCalothecaandBlepharidinais also supplied, including new synonymies, material examined, new faunistic records, distributions and chorotypes.