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

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Podagrica Chevrolat
habitus illustration of Podagrica menetriesi

Podagrica menetriesi
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  • Podagrica Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836:394 (type species Altica fuscipes F., 1775, Europe, designated by Maulik, 1926). - Heikertinger, 1924a:48; 1951:1. - Heikertinger & Csiki, 1940:352. - Kaszab, 1962:361. - Shapiro, 1965:454. -Mohr, 1966:251. - Scherer, 1969:141. - Lopatin, 1977:228, 1984:349. - Lopatin & Kulenova, 1986:163. - Gruev & Tomov, 1986:281. - Konstantinov & Vandenberg, 1996:337.

Distribution: Europe, Asia Minor and Central Asia, Africa, India, Sri Lanka.

Statistics: 5 species in Palearctic, near 30 species worldwide.

Host Plants: Malvaceae: Althaea rosea, A.apterocarpa, A.pallida, A. officinalis, Malva silvestris, M.neglecta, M.arborea, Lavatera thuringica, Hibiscus (Heikertinger 1924b, Medvedev & Roginskaya 1988).

Comments: Based on Barber & Bridwell (1940), White (1970) and Pope (1992) we consider Chevrolat as the author of this genus. The earliest attempt to designate a type species for this genus (Chevrolat 1845) is invalid.

Diagnosis: Body medium sized, oval, convex from lateral view. Head and pronotum usually reddish brown or red; elytra dark blue, green or violet with metallic lustre.
Head pro-hypognathous, broadly oval. Frontal ridge very wide, flat, forming angular T shaped, elevated ridge with anterior margin of head capsule. Facial part of head short. Antennal calli transverse, very narrow, not connected, well delineated from vertex and frons by furrows. Interantennal space wider than diameter of antennal socket and transverse diameter of eye. Gena with very deep antennal furrow. Eye small. Clypeus and labrum short. Apical segment of maxillary palpus very long. Antenna 11-segmented, filiform.
Pronotum wide, convex, with two antebasal longitudinal impressions. Procoxal cavity closed behind. Intercoxal prosternal process wide, convex.
Elytra oval, convex, with well developed humeral calli. Elytral punctures irregularly placed. Epipleuron wide, almost reaching elytral apex.
Metatibia thin, cylindrical, apically flat and slightly thickened. First metatarsal segment not longer than following two segments combined.


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