Eumolpus is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It includes 40 species, most of which have a large size and include some of the largest members of the subfamily. They are distributed throughout the Neotropical realm, though one species (Eumolpus robustus) has been recorded as far north as Arizona (in the United States).
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Etymology
The name of the genus is either derived from the Ancient Greek εὔμολπος (eúmolpos), or is named after Eumolpus from Greek mythology, who was the son of Poseidon and Chione.
Taxonomic history
The genus in its current sense is attributed to Weber, 1801. However, the name Eumolpus was first used in Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger's Verzeichniß der Käfer Preußens in 1798, where it was attributed to Johann Gottlieb Kugelann, and originally consisted of European species now placed in the genera Chrysochus and Bromius.
While most authors followed Weber, 1801, some recent European entomologists have followed Warchałowski, who synonymised Chrysochus with Eumolpus in 1993, designating Chrysomela praetiosa as the type species of Eumolpus. This designation by Warchałowski was invalid, since Latreille had designated Cryptocephalus vitis as the type species of Eumolpus in 1810, which placed Bromius in synonymy with Eumolpus. This threatened stability for Eumolpus, Bromius and Chrysochus.
In 2010, an application was made to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to conserve the names Eumolpus Weber, 1801, Chrysochus Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 and Bromius Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836 by suppressing the name Eumolpus Illiger, 1798, and to set aside all type species designations for Eumolpus before Hope's designation of Chrysomela ignita Fabricius, 1787 in 1840. This was accepted by the ICZN in 2012.
Species
The following species are described in Eumolpus:
Species now placed in Longeumolpus:
Eumolpus carinatus Baly, 1877
Eumolpus imperialis Baly, 1877
Eumolpus prasinus Erichson, 1847
Eumolpus speciosus Baly, 1877
Eumolpus subcostatus (Lefèvre, 1885)