Argopistes Motschulsky, 1860

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

Argopistes Motschulsky, 1860 Figs 15130-132289

References.

Motschulsky 1860: 236; Weise 1895: 335; Bryant 1922a: 474; Biondi and D’Alessandro 2010a: 404.

Type species.

Argopistes biplagiata Motschulsky, 1860: 236 (Siberia), designation by monotypy.

Distribution.

Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, and Madagascar; Australian, Eastern Palaearctic, Nearctic, Northern Neotropical and Oriental regions (Fig. 289).

Ecology.

Many species of this genus are associated with Oleaceae in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially with Olive trees [ Olea europaea var. africana (Mill.)], on which the larvae are leaf miners and adults defoliators (cf. Jolivet and Hawkeswood 1995; personal data).

Notes.

About fifteen species recorded from Madagascar and Sub-Saharan Africa (personal data).