PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 109(1), 2007, pp. 90-101 A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF FLEA BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE: ALTICINAE) FROM THE RAINFOREST CANOPY IN COSTA RICA David G. Furth Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithso-nian Institution, P. O. Box 37012, MRC 165, Washington, D. C. 20013-7012, U.S.A. (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract. — Laselva, n. gen, and Laselva triplehorni, n. sp., are described and illustrated from the canopy of a lowland Atlantic rainforest in Costa Rica. The genus belongs to the "Sphaeronychini" of the Alticinae. Key Words: La Selva, ALAS Project, morphology, rainforest canopy fogging, Sphaeronychini, Monoplatini This new genus belongs to an unusual group of genera of the Alticinae often called the "Monoplatini or Sphaerony-chini." This group has tradtitionally been placed near the end of the Alticinae in checklists (e.g., Seeno and Wilcox 1982) and cataloges (e.g., Heikertinger and Csiki 1939^0, Riley et al. 2003) -a kind of "cataloge phylogeny" without any explanation as to the reason for such placement. The genera included in the "Monoplatini or Sphaeronychini" may be monophyletic, but no true study of this has been undertaken. Morphologi-cally this group of Alticinae genera is characterized by a globosely swollen apical metatarsal segment, closed pro-coxal cavities, and striate elytra often with thick or very dense patterned or colored pubescence. However, there has never been an accurate or comprehensive treatment of the Alticinae at a tribal level, so the use of tribal names is not really a true reflection of their classifica-tion. As discussed in Furth and Suzuki (1998), Furth and Lee (2000), and elsewhere, I prefer not to follow the classification scheme in Reid (1995) that uses the tribal terminology of Alticini and Galerucini within the Galerucinae. See Discussion section below for more details about the use of the name "Monoplatini and Sphaeronychini." Species in the "Monoplatini/Sphaero-nychini" are relatively uncommon in collections and especially rare as series of specimens (personal observation). I have long believed that this is because many or most live in the forest canopy. Furth et al. (2003) reported 247 species in 68 genera of Alticinae collected by various structured/quantitative sampling techniques from a single site (La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica) over a 9-year period. This study showed that over such a long sampling period Malaise trapping was more efficient on a per-individual basis and canopy fogging was more efficient on a per-sample basis. This study also demonstrated that fog-ging multiple tree species captured spe-cies at a higher rate than fogging a single tree species when species accumulation curves were compared on a per-individ-
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