''Eupales'' 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 in the subfamily

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. ...

. The genus contains only one species, ''Eupales ulema'', which is found in

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

, mostly in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. ''Eupales'' is recognised as a primitive member of Eumolpinae, and it shares some features with the Spilopyrinae.

Taxonomy

The genus was originally known as ''Pales'', named in 1836 by the French entomologist

Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat (29 March 1799, Paris – 16 December 1884, Paris) was a French entomologist. He specialized mainly on the beetles and was a founder of the Societe entomologique de France in 1832. Chevrolat worked as a toll adm ...

in Dejean's ''Catalogue des Coléoptères'', but this name was preoccupied by the fly genus ''

Pales In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. Regarded as male by some sources and female by others, ''Pales'' can be either singular or plural in Latin, and refers at least once to a pair of deities. Pales' fe ...

'' Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830. The replacement name ''Eupales'' was created by

Édouard Lefèvre Édouard Lefèvre (22 January 183917 June 1894) was a French botanist and later entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front p ...

in 1885. ''Floricola'' is an older available name for the genus, created by

Gistel Gistel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Following local government boundary reforms in 1971 and 1977, the municipality has comprised not only Gistel, but also the towns of Moere, Snaaskerke and Z ...

in 1848; however, almost all authors have used ''Eupales'' in the last 125 years. In Verma ''et al.'' (2005), the genus is placed as the only member of the tribe Eupalini. However, the name "Eupalini" was not explicitly indicated as new, so it is currently considered an unavailable name according to the

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted Convention (norm), convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific name, scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the I ...

. In the sixth volume of the ''Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera'' and in Bouchard ''et al.'' (2011), the genus is placed as ''

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' within Eumolpinae instead. An application to the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

was sent in 2009 to conserve both the names ''Eupales'' and Eupalini, but the case was never published.

Description

''Eupales ulema'' has an oblong body with a golden metallic green color and a light golden pubescence. It has simple tarsal claws.

Food plants

''Eupales'' has been reported from two species of

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous ...

s, ''

Cornus mas ''Cornus mas'', commonly known as cornel (also the Cornelian cherry, European cornel or Cornelian cherry dogwood), is a species of shrub or small tree in the dogwood family Cornaceae native to Western Europe, Southern Europe, and Southwestern Asi ...

'' and ''

Cornus sanguinea ''Cornus sanguinea'', the common dogwood or bloody dogwood, is a species of dogwood native to most of Europe and western Asia, from England and central Scotland east to the Caspian Sea. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant. Description It ...

'', as well as other plants such as ''

Pyrus Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the pomaceous fruit of the sa ...

'' spp. In Hungary, it appears to be restricted to ''Cornus mas''.

References

Eumolpinae Beetles of Europe Monotypic Chrysomelidae genera Taxa named by Édouard Lefèvre {{Eumolpinae-stub