''Tricholapita'' is a genus of
leaf beetles in the subfamily
Eumolpinae.
The genus is
endemic to
New Caledonia
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, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
.
Taxonomy
The genus was first proposed by the entomologists Jésus Gómez-Zurita and Anabela Cardoso as a subgenus of ''
Taophila
''Taophila'' is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia.
Taxonomy
''Taophila'' was first established in 1916 by the Austrian entomologist Karl Borromaeus Maria Josef Heller for a single describe ...
'', after a morphological and molecular study of the latter in 2014. The subgenus was given the name ''Lapita'', and included three species.
A 2019 phylogenetic study of the subgenus added a further eight species to it.
The subgenus ''Lapita'' was discovered to be a junior homonym of the fly genus ''
Lapita
The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. They are believed to have originated from the northern Philipp ...
'' Bickel, 2002, so it was renamed to ''Tricholapita'' in 2020. Given the many morphological differences to ''Taophila'' s. str., the group was also elevated in rank to genus. Additionally, phylogenetic evidence suggested another species, which was proposed in the same work.
Species
There are 12 species currently included in the genus:
* ''
Tricholapita aphrodita''
(Gómez-Zurita, 2014)
* ''
Tricholapita atlantis
''Tricholapita'' is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia.
Taxonomy
The genus was first proposed by the entomologists Jésus Gómez-Zurita and Anabela Cardoso as a subgenus of ''Taophila'', aft ...
''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita gaea''
(Gómez-Zurita, 2014)
* ''
Tricholapita hermes''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita kronos''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita mars''
(Samuelson, 2010)
* ''
Tricholapita oceanica''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita olympica''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita ouranos''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita reidi''
Gómez-Zurita, Platania & Cardoso, 2020
* ''
Tricholapita riberai''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
* ''
Tricholapita tridentata''
(Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019)
References
Eumolpinae
Chrysomelidae genera
Insects of New Caledonia
Beetles of Oceania
Endemic fauna of New Caledonia
{{Eumolpinae-stub