''Cubispa'' is a genus of

leaf beetle The beetle family Chrysomelidae, commonly known as leaf beetles, includes over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making it one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Numerous s ...

s consisting of two species from

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It is classified within the tribe

Cubispini Cubispini is a tribe of leaf beetles from the Neotropical realm. It is classified within either the Eumolpinae or the Cassidinae. It was established by Francisco Monrós in 1954 to contain the genus ''Cubispa'', which was originally placed in the ...

, which is placed within either the

Eumolpinae The Eumolpinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae. It is one of the largest subfamilies of leaf beetles, including more than 500 genera and 7000 species. They are oval, and convex in form, and measure up to 10 mm in size. ...

or the

Cassidinae The Cassidinae (tortoise and leaf-mining beetles) are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae. The antennae arise close to each other and some members have the pronotal and elytral edges extended to the side and covering the legs so a ...

. Beetles in the genus are

wingless In cellular biology, the Wnt signaling pathways are a group of signal transduction pathways which begin with proteins that pass signals into a cell through cell surface receptors. The name Wnt, pronounced "wint", is a portmanteau created from the ...

, and are associated with

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Cubispa'' was originally established by

Herbert Spencer Barber Herbert Spencer Barber (18821950) was an American entomologist.

for a single species described from Cuba, ''Cubispa turquino'', and was placed in the subfamily Hispinae (now included in

), in the tribe Cephaloleini. It was transferred to the subfamily Eumolpinae in 1954 by Francisco Monrós, who placed the genus in its own tribe,

. A second species for the genus, ''Cubispa esmeralda'', was described by C.L. Staines from Guatemala in 2000. A second genus, ''

Lobispa ''Lobispa'' is a genus of leaf beetles consisting of three species from Central America and northern South America. It is classified within the tribe Cubispini, which is placed within the subfamily Eumolpinae. The genus superficially resembles th ...

'', was described and placed in the tribe Cubispini in 2001. According to Borowiec & Świętojańska (2014), the placement of the tribe Cubispini and the genus ''Cubispa'' is still uncertain, and they prefer to exclude ''Cubispa'' from Eumolpinae and retain it in Cassidinae.

Species

There are two species included in ''Cubispa'': * '' Cubispa esmeralda'' Staines, 2000 – found in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

* '' Cubispa turquino''

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

, 1946 – found in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

References

Eumolpinae Cassidinae Chrysomelidae genera Beetles of Central America Insects of Cuba Wingless beetles Taxa named by Herbert Spencer Barber {{Eumolpinae-stub