An overview of the Brazilian Chrysomelidae (Insecta: Coleoptera): the most species-rich beetle family in Brazil

Abstract

The leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) are one of the most species-rich family of herbivorous beetles with about 45,000 species worldwide. Based on the contributions of chrysomelidologists to the Taxonomic Catalog of the Brazilian Fauna - CTFB, the family comprises 6,079 species in 562 genera of which 951 species are endemic to Brazil, standing out as the most diverse, representing 4.8% of the Brazilian fauna and 17.1% of the beetle species. Chrysomelidae has twelve subfamilies with nine reported to Brazil: Galerucinae, the richest with 1,916 species in 202 genera, followed by Cassidinae, Eumolpinae, Cryptocephalinae, Chrysomelinae, Bruchinae, Criocerinae, Lamprosomatinae and Sagrinae - this with only one species. Most of these subfamilies need urgent revision, since many species are poorly characterized, and polymorphism is frequent in some groups. The Czech couple Jan and Bohumila Bechyně were the researchers who described most species from Brazil. Furthermore, despite the increase of research on biology, natural history, host plants, genetics, ecology from 1980’s much still need to be investigated to better known the Brazilian Chrysomelidae and probably many new species are yet to be discovered.