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

Neocrepidodera Heikertinger

Neocrepidodera sibirica Click here to see a larger image Neocrepidodera ferruginea Click here to see a larger image

Neocrepidodera Heikertinger, 1911b:34 (type species Ochrosis sibirica Pic, 1909, Siberia, by monotypy); 1924a:46. - Heikertinger & Csiki in Junk, 1939:280. - Kimoto, 1965:426. - Medvedev, 1992:585. - Konstantinov & Vandenberg, 1996:286. Orestioides Hatch, 1935:276 (type species Crepidodera robusta LeConte, 1874, North America, by monotypy). - Konstantinov, 1995:73 (synonymized). Asiorestia Jacobson, 1925:274 (type species A. , kozhantshikovi Jacobson, 1925, Siberia, by monotypy). - Gressitt & Kimoto, 1963:761. -Kimoto, 1965:421. - Lopatin, 1977:225; 1984:343; 1986:95. - Lopatin & Kulenova, 1986:159. - Medvedev, 1982;118, 275; 1992:584. - Biondi, 1989:519. Konstantinov & Vandenberg 1996:286 (synonymized). Crepidodera: Heikertinger, 1924a:42; 1950:32, 54. - Heikertinger & Csikiin Junk, 1939:280. - Kaszab, 1962:271. - Shapiro, 1965:452. - Gruev & Tomov, 1986:253.

Distribution: Holarctic, Oriental and Afrotropical regions.

Statistics: more than 50 species in Palearctic, more than 100 species worldwide.

Host Plants: Aconitum, Artemisia, Carduus, Centaurea, Cirsium, Doronicum, Echium, Fragaria, Galeopsis, Gentiana, Parnassia, Potentilla, Rubus, Salix, Senecio, Veratrum, Vicia (Medvedev & Roginskaya 1988).

Comments: The decision to consider Asiorestia a synonym of Neocrepidodera is based on a comprehensive morphological study of the head capsule, mouth parts, thorax (including metendosternite) and male and female genitalia of Neocrepidodera sibirica (Pic) and several species of Asiorestia (A. ferruginea Scopolli, A. sublaevis Motschulsky, A. impressa F., A. interpunctata Motschulsky, A. nigritula Gyllenhal, A. melanostoma Redtenbacher, A. transversa Marsham). In this comparative study we did not find any important characters to distinguish the two genera. Moreover, the difference between A. ferruginea and A. nigritula (A. melanostoma) is greater than between A. ferruginea and Neocrepidodera sibirica. Therefore Asiorestia is placed as a junior synonym of Neocrepidodera.
Many species are listed by Heikertinger & Csiki (in Junk 1939) under the genus Crepidodera. The majority of these species belong to Neocrepidodera with the probable exception of the Neotropical and Australian species.

Diagnosis: Body medium sized, oval, more or less convex from lateral view. Color yellow, dark brown, black with or without metallic lustre, metallic blue or green; sometimes pronotum differently colored.
Head pro-hypognathous, oval, slightly convex from lateral view. Frontal ridge wide between antennal calli and very narrow towards anterior margin of head capsule, forming very low, angular T-shaped ridge near clypeus. Antennal calli raised, oval, broadly connected, sometimes not delineated from vertex by furrows. Interantennal space sometimes wider than diameter of antennal socket. Orbital line present. Eye comparatively large. Antenna 11-segmented, filiform.
Pronotum subquadrate, with antebasal transverse and longitudinal impressions. Procoxal cavity closed behind.
Elytra oval, more or less convex from lateral view. Elytral punctures arranged in striae; discal striae sometimes irregular. Epipleuron wide, subvertical, not reaching elytral apex.
Metatibia sometimes thin, cylindrical, expanded apically; apex flat dorsally. First metatarsal segment not longer than following three segments combined.

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

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