Description of Genus Longitarsus

Guide to Palearctic Flea Beetle Genera
(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticinae)

Longitarsus Latreille

Longitarsus josiphi
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Longitarsus Latreille, 1829:155 (type species Chrysomela atricilla L., 1761, Europe, designated by Maulik, 1926). - Maulik, 1926:333. - Heikertinger & Csiki in Junk, 1939:104. - Heikertinger, 1941a:70, 86. - Kaszab, 1962:291. - Gressitt & Kimoto, 1963:851. - Kimoto, 1965:451. - Shapiro, 1965:460. - Mohr, 1966:220. - Lopatin, 1977:210, 1984:319, 1986:80. - Lopatin & Kulenova, 1986:148. - Furth, 1980 (1979):79. - Medvedev, 1982:114, 271; 1992:589. - Gruev & Tomov, 1986:180. - Konstantinov, 1992:41. - Döberl, 1994:96. - Konstantinov & Vandenberg, 1996:311.

Thyamis Stephens, 1831:307 (type species Altica quadripustulata F., 1775, Europe, by subsequent designation of Westwood, 1840). - Westwood, 1840:42. - Weise, 1882-93(1888):922 (synonymized). - Bedel, 1897:169.

Teinodactyla Chevrolat, 1836:392 (type species Haltica echi Koch, 1803, Europe, by present designation). - Foudras, 1859(1860):146, 236. - Allard, 1860:87. - Weise, 1882-93(1888):922 (synonymized).

Inopelonia Broun, 1893:1392 (type species Phyllotreta testacea Broun, 1880, New Zealand, by original designation). - Samuelson, 1973:56 (synonymized).

Testergus Weise, 1882-1893 (1893):1013 (proposed as subgenus, type species Longitarsus lederi Weise, 1893, Caucasus, by present designation). - Konstantinov, 1992:41.

Truncatus Palij, 1970:10 (proposed as subgenus, type species Longitarsus zeravshanicus Palij, 1970 = tmetopterus Jacobson, 1893, Central Asia, by original designation). - Lopatin, 1977:210 (synonymized).

Statistics: The largest genus of Alticinae with more than 250 Palearctic species and about 500 species worldwide.

Host Plants: Achillea, Alkanna, Anchusa, Artemisia, Asperugo, Ballota, Borago, Cerinthe, Cynoglossum, Echium, Lappula, Linum, Lithospermum, Lycopus, Majorana, Marrubium, Matricaria, Mentha, Myosotis, Plantago, Pulmonaria, Ranunculus, Salvia, Stachys, Symphytum, Tanacetum, Thalictrum, Tournefortia (Gressitt & Kimoto 1963, Medvedev & Roginskaya 1988).

Comments: In D'Orbigny's "Dictionaire universal d'histoire naturelle" (1845) Chevrolat attempted to designate a type species for Longitarsus, but the format of his statement does not clearly show for which genus (Aphthona or Longitarsus) the type is designated. Therefore, it can not be considered as a proper designation. The Aphthona and Longitarsus (Teinodactyla, Thyamis) entries of the Dictionary (Chevrolat 1842, 1846, 1848) also do not contain any evidence of type designation for these genera.

Diagnosis: Body small to medium sized, oval, more or less convex. Color yellow, brown or black with or without metallic lustre; elytral suture usually dark; elytra rarely with spot at middle or at apex.
Head pro-hypognathous, more or less convex from lateral view; frontal ridge narrow; antennal calli raised, rarely delimited from vertex by furrow. Interantennal space narrower than transverse diameter of eye. Vertex flat to convex. Eye small. Antenna 11-segmented, filiform.
Pronotum without transverse or longitudinal impressions, narrowly explanate laterally. Procoxal cavity open behind. Intercoxal prosternal process and mesosternum narrow.
Elytra convex to flat, oval, with or without humeral calli. Elytral punctation confused, rarely forming irregular striae on disk. Epipleuron notably tapered toward apex, more or less vertical. Some black montane species bear short elytra with apical or even preapical abdominal segments visible from above (subgenus Testergus Weise).
Femora typical. Metatibia with apical 2/3 flat. Apical part thickened. Apical spine usually large, inserted almost at middle. First metatarsal segment very long, not shorter than 1/2 of tibia.


Generic Key	Generic Index	Morphology	Host Plants	Overview of Palearctic Fauna	Literature Cited