Texas Beetle Information

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Eight-spotted Flea Beetle

Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata (Crotch)

Family Chrysomelidae, Subfamily Galerucinae, Tribe Alticini

Falcon State Park, Starr Co., Texas
October 20, 2007 (M Quinn)

Texas County Records for Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata

County Record Data from E.G. Riley, Nov. 2005

Range: Arizona, Kansas, Texas, Florida, West Indies, Mexico, Central America (Riley et al. 2003)

Hosts: Polyphagous (Mignot 1970; Clark et al. 2004)

Similar Species:

This genus includes about 50 species found throughout the Neotropics (Arnett et al. 2002), but only Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata occurs in the United States (Riley et al. 2003)

Type Specimen:

Original combination: Oedionychis octamaculata Crotch, 1873
Current name: Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata (Crotch)

Etymology: Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata (Crotch)

omo (G). The shoulder
phoita ?
cyani (G). Dark blue
penni (L). A wing;
octo (L). Eight
=maculat (L). Spot; spotted

Biology: George Robert Crotch (1842 - 1874) was a British entomologist.

References:

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley & J.H. Frank. (editors). 2002. American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL. xiv + 861 pp.

Blake, D.H. 1931. Notes on West Indian and Central American flea beetles (Halticinae). Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, 26(2): 76-83.

Clark, S.M., D.G. LeDoux, T.N. Seeno, E.G. Riley, A.J. Gilbert & J.M. Sullivan. 2004. Host plants of leaf beetle species occurring in the United States and Canada (Coleoptera: Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae, Chrysomelidae exclusive of Bruchinae). Coleopterists Society, Special Publication no. 2, 476 pp.

Mignot, E.C. 1970. Taxonomic Revision of the Tribes Aspicelini and Disonychini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Alticinae) North of Mexico. Ph.D. Thesis. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. 268 pp.