''Trichochrysea hirta'' is a species 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 ...

found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

in Southeast Asia. It has a metallic blue or green body covered with white hair, after which the species gets its

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

: the species epithet, ''hirta'', is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, meaning "hairy".

Description

The adult of ''Trichochrysea hirta'' has a metallic blue or green body, with dense white pubescence. Its head is coarsely punctured. The basal four or five segments of the antennae are rufo-piceous beneath, the second and third sometimes entirely so, the basal segment cupreo-aureus. It measures 5.8–10.0 mm in length.

Taxonomy

The species was first described from

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

as ''Eumolpus hirtus'' by

Johan Christian Fabricius Johann Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is co ...

in his 1801 ''Systema eleutheratorum''. The species is currently a member of the genus '' Trichochrysea'' 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. ...

. Two subspecies of ''Trichochrysea hirta'' are recognised in Volume 6 of the ''Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera'': * ''Trichochrysea hirta hirta'' (

Fabricius Fabricius (, ) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *people from the Ancient Roman Fabricia gens, gens Fabricia: **Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the first of the Fabricii to move to Rome * Johann Goldsmid (1587–1616), known by his ...

, 1801) * ''Trichochrysea hirta viridis'' ( Jacoby, 1892) In 1987, two different subspecies of ''Trichochrysea hirta'' were recognised: ''T. h. hirta'' and ''T. h. nitidissima'', with ''T. h. viridis'' as a synonym of the former. These differed mainly in the colour of the upper side. In 2007, ''T. hirta'' was instead divided into two species, based on differences in the shape of the

aedeagus An aedeagus ( or aedeagi) is a reproductive organ of male arthropods through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation (zoology), copulation with a female. It can be thought of as the insect equivalent of a mammal's penis, th ...

: specimens from Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia (which have an aedeagus with an acute triangular apex) were considered true ''T. hirta'', while those from mainland Asia (which have a broad aedeagus with truncated apex, with a small central tip) were now considered a separate species with the name '' Trichochrysea nitidissima''. The taxonomic position of the subspecies ''T. h. viridis'' is not clear, as its aedeagus was not studied: it is sometimes instead recognised as a separate species (''Trichochrysea viridis''), but it is possibly a synonym of ''T. hirta''.

Distribution

''Trichochrysea hirta'' is recorded from

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

Lombok Lombok, is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Nias Nias (, Nias: ''Tanö Niha'') is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, but also includes the Batu Islands to the southeast and the small ...

, and

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q107353991 Eumolpinae Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius Beetles described in 1801 Beetles of Asia Beetles of Indonesia Insects of Malaysia Insects of Java Fauna of Sumatra Fauna of Bali Fauna of Sulawesi