Nemognatha chrysomeloides

Nemognatha chrysomeloides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Meloidae
Genus:	Nemognatha
Species:	N. chrysomeloides
Binomial name
Nemognatha chrysomeloides (Linnaeus, 1763)

Nemognatha chrysomeloides is a species of oil beetle (Meloidae) endemic to Central and South America.

Ecology

Nemognatha chrysomeloides is a parasite of Melitoma marginella and M. segmentaria from Mexico to Argentina. Both N. chrysomeloides and Melitoma are restricted to the same host plant – Ipomoea – and so the rate of parasitism may be comparatively high. ^[1]

Taxonomy

Nemognatha chrysomeloides was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 work Centuria Insectorum , under the name Meloe chrysomeloides. It is a very variable species, and as such, many synonyms have since been published: ^[2]

• Cantharis chrysomeloides(Linnaeus, 1763): Thunberg, 1784
• Lytta chrysomeloides(Linnaeus, 1763): Schoenherr, 1817
• Nemognathus coeruleipennisPerty, 1830
• Nemognatha versicolorChevrolat, 1834
• Nemognatha abdominalisLucas in Laporte de Castelnau, 1859
• Nemognatha bicolorLucas in Laporte de Castelnau, 1859 (nonLeConte, 1853; necWalker, 1866)
• Nematognatha lucasiGemminger, 1870
• Nemognatha atraBeauregard, 1890 (nonZonitis atrumSchwartz, 1808; necGnathium atrumDugès, 1889)
• Nemognatha coeruleipennis var. fulviventrisBeauregard, 1890
• Nemognatha pallidicollisBeauregard, 1890
• Nemognatha violaceaBeauregard, 1890
• Nemognatha beauregardiPic, 1910 (replacement name for N. atraBeauregard, 1890)
• Zonitis chrysomeloides(Linnaeus, 1763): Denier, 1935
• Zonitis beauregardi(Pic, 1910): Blackwelder, 1945
• Nemognatha chrysomeloides ab. markliKaszab, 1963

References

• Insects portal
• Arthropods portal

1. E. G. Linsley, J. W. MacSwain & C. D. Michener (1980). Nesting Biology and Associated of Melitoma (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae). University of California Publications in Entomology, Volume 90. University of California Press. ISBN   0-520-09618-5.
2. M. García-París, D. Buckley & G. Parra-Olea (2007). "Catálogo taxonómico-geográfico de los coleópteros de la familia Meloidae de México" (PDF). Graellsia . 63 (2): 165–258. doi: 10.3989/graellsia.2007.v63.i2.92 . hdl: 10261/23551 .