Gabonia Jacoby, 1893

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 : 32-33

Gabonia Jacoby, 1893 Figs 45185-186317

=Jamesonia Jacoby, 1895 (unnecessary new name for Gabonia Jacoby; synonymized by Weise 1902a)

=Orneates Jacoby, 1899b (synonymized by Weise 1910a)

=Thrymnes Weise, 1895 (synonymized by Weise 1902a)

References.

Jacoby 1893: 101; 1895: 341; 1899b: 345; Weise 1895: 338; 1902a: 173; 1910a: 231; Bechyné 1955b: 489; Scherer 1962a: 21; Scherer and Boppré 1997: 10, 32; Biondi and D’Alessandro 2003: 105; 2010a: 407.

Type species.

Gabonia : Gabonia unicostata Jacoby, 1893: 101 (Gabon), designation by monotypy; Orneates : Orneates nigritus Jacoby, 1899b: 345 (Natal), designation by monotypy; Thrymnes : Thrymnes custos Weise, 1895: 339 (Ashante), by present designation.

Distribution.

Afrotropical region (excluding Madagascar) and Arabian Peninsula (?) (Fig. 317).

Ecology.

Polyphagous. This genus has been associated with several plant families (cf. Jolivet and Hawkeswood 1995; personal data).

Notes.

About one hundred and fifty species are known to occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Biondi and D’Alessandro (2003), Gabonia is closely related to Luperomorpha Weise, 1887. The latter genus is widespread and prevalent in the Australian and Oriental regions, and is probably a synonym of the former genus. Many species currently attributed to Gabonia do not show any significant differences from Luperomorpha species. The diagnostic character reported by Scherer and Boppré (1997) for separating these two genera is the apical spur on the hind tibia: long and straight in Gabonia ; very short in Luperomorpha . However, this character is not always reliable. In view of the wide spectrum of variability displayed by the genus Gabonia , and the need to consider various other genera, synonymy with Luperomorpha may be confirmed by a detailed and careful comparative study of this complicated African genus in the future ( Biondi and D’Alessandro 2010a; Doguet 1979).