Aphthona Chevrolat, 1836

Biondi, Maurizio & D'Alessandro, Paola, 2012, Afrotropical flea beetle genera: a key to their identification, updated catalogue and biogeographical analysis (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae, Alticini), ZooKeys 253, pp. 1-158 : 21

Aphthona Chevrolat, 1836 Figs 13, 14128-129288

=Ethiopia Scherer, 1972 syn. n.

=Pseudeugonotes Jacoby, 1899 (synonymized by Biondi and D’Alessandro 2010a)

References.

Chevrolat 1836: 391; Jacoby 1899a: 531; Bechyné 1955c: 62; 1960b: 67, 74; Scherer 1972: 7; 1978: 265 (as Ethiopia ); Biondi and D’Alessandro 2010a: 404, 407 (as Ethiopia ).

Type species.

Aphthona : Altica cyparissiae Koch, 1803: 80 (Europe), by subsequent designation by Chûjô (1937: 119); Ethiopia : Ethiopia tricolor Scherer, 1972: 7 (Ethiopia: Agheresalam), by original designation; Pseudeugonotes : Pseudeugonotes vannutellii Jacoby, 1899a: 531 (Ethiopia: Sancurar-Amarr Burgi), designation by monotypy.

Distribution.

Afrotropical (including Madagascar), Australian, Nearctic, Oriental and Palaearctic regions (Fig. 288). All the species from the Neotropical region described as Aphthona should be attributed to different genera (cf. Konstantinov and Vandenberg 1996; Konstantinov 1998).

Ecology.

Genus mainly associated with Euphorbiaceae , but also with Geraniaceae , Cistaceae , Rosaceae , Linaceae , Iridaceae , Malvaceae and Lythraceae (cf. Bechyné 1955c; Jolivet and Hawkeswood 1995).

Notes.

About one hundred species are described from Madagascar and Sub-Saharan Africa. There are no important diagnostic characters distinguishing Ethiopia Scherer from Aphthona . Therefore, the following new synonymy is proposed: Aphthona Chevrolat, 1836 = Ethiopia Scherer, 1972 syn. n. Type material examined: Ethiopia tricolor Scherer, holotype ♂ and paratype ♀, "Ethiopia, Agheresalam, 7.6.1963, Linnavuori" (MZHF).