Special Publication No. 1Catalog of Leaf Beetles of America North of Mexico

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by Edward G. Riley, Shawn M. Clark, and Terry N. Seeno

This is the first in a series of special publications by The Coleopterists Society. 290 pages, spiral bound.

This catalog covers the original nomenclature of the group of Coleoptera generally called leaf beetles. As used here, the term leaf beetle includes the families Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae, and Chrysomelidae. The seed beetles, Bruchinae (or Bruchidae), are now usually included in the Chrysomelidae but are omitted from this catalog. The Bruchinae have traditionally been treated as a separate family, and a relatively recent world catalog for the group is available.

Until now, the most complete catalog or listing of leaf beetles for North America has been the “Red Version List” compiled by John Wilcox in 1975 as part of Ross Arnett’s North American Beetle Fauna Project, an initiative that sought to produce a catalog for the Coleoptera of America north of South America. The original “Red Version” leaf beetle checklist is an uncommon publication and not found in most libraries.

The present catalog is intended to update the “Red Version” checklist by providing a modern synopsis of the genus- and species-group nomenclature for the species occurring in the conterminous United States, Canada, and Alaska. The body of the work is divided into four parts: Catalog of Taxa: This includes the body of the catalog and all available and many unavailable genus-group and species-group names applicable to the presently accepted leaf beetle fauna of the geographic region noted above. The names are organized in a classification scheme that is a reasonable assessment of the current understanding of leaf beetle classification;

Annotations: Annotations are provided for the superscripted entries found in the Catalog of Taxa. Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes are discussed here, as well as notes on problematic nomenclature and other noteworthy items;

Names of Uncertain Application: This section deals with the species names that are of unknown or uncertain application. These names are arranged alphabetically in their original combinations and are accompanied by brief annotations;

Excluded species: This section deals with names of valid species previously recorded in error from the region and records for species that were not established in the region for any length of time. These names are arranged alphabetically by their current combinations under subfamily headings and are accompanied by brief annotations. In addition, a full bibliography is provided including references that include the original proposals for names, those that include type-species designations for genus-group names, and for various other publications cited in the text.