Leptinotarsa

Leptinotarsa
Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)
Leptinotarsa decemlineata larva
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Cucujiformia
Family: Chrysomelidae
Tribe: Chrysomelini
Genus: Leptinotarsa
Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836[1]
Type species
Leptinotarsa heydeni
Stål, 1858
Species

See text

Leptinotarsa is a genus of leaf beetles. The most well-known species is the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), an economically significant invasive crop pest. The closely related genus Stilodes has often been merged with Leptinotarsa, with some dispute about which name applies, but the type species – L.heydeni and "L." humeralis when both placed in Leptinotarsa – do not seem to be particularly close to each other.[2]

Several species in the genus produce leptinotarsin, a toxin similar to the diamphotoxin produced by species of the African leaf beetle genus Diamphidia. Some Leptinotarsa species are parasitised by ground beetles of genus Lebia.[3]

Selected species

References

  1. ↑ Bousquet, Yves; Bouchard, Patrice (2013). "The genera in the second catalogue (1833–1836) of Dejean's Coleoptera collection". ZooKeys (282): 1–219. Bibcode:2013ZooK..282....1B. doi:10.3897/zookeys.282.4401. PMC 3677338. PMID 23794836.
  2. ↑ Dury, Guillaume J.; Jackson, Morgan D. (2026). "Resolving nomenclatural issues pertaining to the Chrysomelinae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) of the Americas and establishing the identity of Demay, 1838". ZooKeys (1278): 1–18. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1278.175201.
  3. ↑ Chaboo, Caroline (2011). "Defensive behaviors in leaf beetles: From the unusual to the weird" (PDF). In Weir, Tiffany; Vivanco, Jorge M. (eds.). Chemical Biology of the Tropics: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Signaling and Communication in Plants. Berlin: Springer Verlag. pp. 59–69. ISBN 978-3-642-19079-7. OCLC 706961677. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.