Chaetocnema Stephens, 1831

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 : 27-28

Chaetocnema Stephens, 1831 Figs 28154301

=Brinckaltica Bechyné, 1959b (synonymized by Scherer 1961)

=Exorhina Weise, 1886 (synonymized by Heikertinger and Csiki 1940)

=Plectroscelis Chevrolat, 1836 (synonymized by Weise 1886)

References.

Stephens 1831: 325; Chevrolat 1836: 393; Baly 1877: 166; Weise 1886: 750; Bryant 1928: 393; Heikertinger and Csiki 1940: 376; Laboissière 1942: 81; Bechyné 1959b: 236; 1960b: 91; Scherer 1961: 259; Biondi 2001b: 233; 2002a: 266; 2002b: 356; Biondi and D’Alessandro 2006: 720; 2010a: 405.

Type species.

Chaetocnema : Chrysomela concinna Marsham, 1802 (Europe), by subsequent designation by Westwood (1840: 42); Exorhina : Haltica chlorophana Duftschmid, 1825: 286 (Austria), by subsequent designation by Döberl (2010: 508); Brinckaltica : Chaetocnema subaterrima Jacoby, 1900: 254 (Natal), by original designation.

Distribution.

All zoogeographical regions (Fig. 301).

Ecology.

This genus is mainly associated with plants in the families Chenopodiaceae , Cyperaceae , Juncaceae , Poaceae (also known as Gramineae ), and Polygonaceae (cf. Jolivet and Hawkeswood 1995). In the Afrotropical region some Chaetocnema are serious pests of rice ( Biondi and D’Alessandro 2008a).

Notes.

Over one hundred species are known from Madagascar and Sub-Saharan Africa.