Natural Resources, School of
Myrmeconycha new genus: the fi rst myrmecophilous fl ea beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini)
Document Type Article
Published in 2017 by Center for Systematic Entomology, Inc. P. O. Box 141874 Gainesville, FL 32614-1874 USA http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/
Copyright held by the author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial License
Abstract
The fi rst myrmecophilous fl ea beetle genus (Myrmeconycha Konstantinov and Tishechkin, new genus) with four new species (M. erwini Konstantinov and Tishechkin, new species – Ecuador, M. gordoni Konstantinov and Tishechkin, new species – Brazil, M. pakaluki Konstantinov and Tishechkin, new species – Panama, and M. pheidole Konstantinov and Tishechkin, new species – Costa Rica) is described and illustrated. It is compared with flea beetles of the subtribe Disonychina (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) and may be easily differentiated based on the external and internal features, which include the waxy surface of the head and pronotum, reticulated surface of the pronotum, and four longitudinal ridges on each elytron.