''Arsoa'' is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It was first established by the French entomologist

Léon Fairmaire Léon Marc Herminie Fairmaire (29 June 1820 – 1 April 1906) was a French entomologist. A specialist in Coleoptera he assembled an immense collection comparable with that of Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean (1780-1845). This is in the Mus� ...

in 1901, for two species described from Androy Plateau, in southern Madagascar. Adult males in the genus have very long forelegs. The genus was originally placed by Fairmaire in the family Clythridae (now known as the tribe

Clytrini The Clytrini are a tribe within the leaf beetle subfamily Cryptocephalinae, though historically they were often treated as a distinct subfamily, Clytrinae. As the other Cryptocephalinae, they belong to the group of case-bearing leaf beetles know ...

), near ''Miopristis''. However,

Martin Jacoby Martin Jacoby (12 April 1842, Altona – 24 December 1907, London) was a German entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera, especially Chrysomelidae (formerly known as Phytophaga). He was also a musician who played in the orchestra of the Royal I ...

later determined that it actually belonged to Eumolpinae, and placed it in the "Edusinae" (now known as the section "Edusites" of the tribe Eumolpini), near ''

Abirus ''Abirus'' is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It is distributed from the Malay Archipelago to the Indian subcontinent, China, and the Ryukyu Islands. The genus was first established by the Belgian entomologist Félicien ...

''.

Description

Adult males have very long forelegs that are slender and straight; the femurs are thicker, and are almost as long as the tibias. The head is the same width as the thorax, and truncated in front. The antennae protrude a little from the middle of the body, are very slender, except the first segment, the third a little longer than the next, the last barely thicker. The thorax is slightly narrower than the elytra, very narrowed in the front with the posterior border bisinuated; these are almost cylindrical, or oval. The

prosternum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

is truncated in front and at the base, very broad, the

mesosternum The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the Thorax (arthropod anatomy), thorax of Hexapoda, hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (Dorsum (biology), dorsal), the m ...

a little less. The intercoxal projection is rather broad and obtuse. The four hind legs are rather short and slender, the femurs a little thickened. The body is densely punctuated, more or less a greenish tan colour with dots and bands of whitish pubescence. The females are similar to the males, but have shorter forelegs and antennae.

Species

The genus ''Arsoa'' includes two species: * ''

Arsoa aranea ''Arsoa'' is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It was first established by the French entomologist Léon Fairmaire in 1901, for two species described from Androy Plateau, in southern Madagascar. Adult males in the genus have ve ...

'' Fairmaire, 1901 * '' Arsoa longimana'' Fairmaire, 1901

References

Eumolpinae Chrysomelidae genera Beetles of Africa Insects of Madagascar Taxa named by Léon Fairmaire Endemic fauna of Madagascar {{Eumolpinae-stub