''Altica'' ( New Latin from Greek , ''haltikós'', "jumper" or "jumping") is a large genus of flea beetles in the subfamily Galerucinae, with about 300 species, distributed nearly worldwide.Ross H. Arnett et al. ''American Beetles'', Vol. 2: ''Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea''. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002. . P. 662–663. The genus is best represented in the Neotropical realm, well represented in the Nearctic and

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, but occurs also in the Afrotropic, Indomalaya, and Australasia. The species are similar to each other, small metallic blue-green-bronze beetles, often distinguished from each other only by the

aedeagus An aedeagus (plural aedeagi) is a reproductive organ of male arthropods through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation with a female. It can be thought of as the insect equivalent of a mammal's penis, though the comparison ...

. The species of ''Altica'', both as larvae and as adults, are phytophagous, feeding on plant foliage of various food plant taxa, specific for each ''Altica'' species. Onagraceae and

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

(mainly '' Rubus'') are the dominant host plant families for Holarctic species. The adult ''Altica'' beetles are able to jump away when approached.

Selected species

References

Further reading