''Blepharida'' is a genus of leaf beetles of the subfamily Galerucinae. They have co-evolved with plants in the genus ''

Bursera ''Bursera'' is a genus with about 100 described species of flowering shrubs and trees varying in size up to high. It is the type genus for Burseraceae. The trees are native (often for many species endemic) to the Americas, from the southern Uni ...

'', which they feed on. The plants have developed a sticky, poisonous resin that sprays out when the leaves are bitten into, and the beetles have evolved to cut through the veins of the leaves to disable this mechanism first. There are currently 73 known species in ''Blepharida'', which are found in the

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

, Neotropical,

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

and southern

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 ...

realms.

Structure

The exact structure of the genus is contentious, and remains unresolved. In 1940, Heikertinger and Csiki considered ''Blepharida'' to include three subgenera, ''Blepharida'' ''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

, Blepharidella'', and ''Calotheca''. In 1968, Bechyné elevated both to the status of genera, and erected a new genus ''Blepharidina'' to contain Afrotropical species of ''Blepharida''. In 1982, Seeno and Wilcox returned to the three subgenera described by Heikertinger and Csiki, but retained ''Blepharidina''; despite this, in 1983, Scherer placed many Afrotropical species in ''Blepharida''. In 1992, Furth reclassified ''Blepharidina'' as a subgenus of ''Blepharida''. Cladistic analysis in 2004 indicated that ''Blepharida'' species from the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

are a single

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

, and Afrotropical species are a separate but related clade. ''Blepharida'' and its related genera have been referred to as the ''Blepharida''-group. In 1998, Furth considered it to have sixteen genera, and in 1999 Medvedev added three more for a total of nineteen.

Selected species

* '' Blepharida alternata'' * '' Blepharida atripennis'' * '' Blepharida balyi'' * '' Blepharida bryanti'' * ''

Blepharida condrasi ''Blepharida'' is a genus of leaf beetles of the subfamily Galerucinae. They have co-evolved with plants in the genus ''Bursera'', which they feed on. The plants have developed a sticky, poisonous resin that sprays out when the leaves are bitt ...

'' * '' Blepharida conspersa'' * '' Blepharida flavocostata'' * '' Blepharida florhi'' * '' Blepharida gabrielae'' * '' Blepharida hinchahuevosi'' * '' Blepharida humeralis'' * '' Blepharida irrorata'' * '' Blepharida johngi'' * '' Blepharida judithae'' * '' Blepharida lineata'' * '' Blepharida maculicollis'' * '' Blepharida marginalis'' * ''

Blepharida melanoptera ''Blepharida'' is a genus of leaf beetles of the subfamily Galerucinae. They have co-evolved with plants in the genus ''Bursera'', which they feed on. The plants have developed a sticky, poisonous resin that sprays out when the leaves are bitt ...

'' * ''

Blepharida multimaculata ''Blepharida'' is a genus of leaf beetles of the subfamily Galerucinae. They have co-evolved with plants in the genus ''Bursera'', which they feed on. The plants have developed a sticky, poisonous resin that sprays out when the leaves are bitt ...

'' * '' Blepharida natalensis'' * '' Blepharida nigromaculata'' * '' Blepharida nigrotesselata'' * '' Blepharida pallida'' * '' Blepharida parallela'' * '' Blepharida rhois'' * '' Blepharida sacra'' * '' Blepharida schlechtendalii'' * '' Blepharida singularis'' * '' Blepharida sonorstriata'' * '' Blepharida sparsa'' * '' Blepharida unami'' * '' Blepharida variegatus'' * '' Blepharida verdea'' * '' Blepharida vittata'' * '' Blepharida xochipala''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1874969 Alticini Chrysomelidae genera Taxa named by Louis Alexandre Auguste Chevrolat Beetles described in 1836