''Cubispa'' is a genus of leaf beetles consisting of two species from

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. It is classified within the tribe Cubispini, which is placed within either the Eumolpinae or the

Cassidinae The Cassidinae (tortoise and leaf-mining beetles) are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae. The antennae arise close to each other and some members have the pronotal and elytral edges extended to the side and covering the legs so as ...

. Beetles in the genus are wingless, and are associated with

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Cubispa'' was originally established by

Herbert Spencer Barber Herbert Spencer Barber (18821950) was an American entomologist.

for a single species described from Cuba, ''Cubispa turquino'', and was placed in the subfamily Hispinae (now included in

), in the tribe Cephaloleini. It was transferred to the subfamily Eumolpinae in 1954 by Francisco Monrós, who placed the genus in its own tribe, Cubispini. A second species for the genus, ''Cubispa esmeralda'', was described by C.L. Staines from Guatemala in 2000. A second genus, '' Lobispa'', was described and placed in the tribe Cubispini in 2001. According to Borowiec & Świętojańska (2014), the placement of the tribe Cubispini and the genus ''Cubispa'' is still uncertain, and they prefer to exclude ''Cubispa'' from Eumolpinae and retain it in Cassidinae.

Species

There are two species included in ''Cubispa'': * ''

Cubispa esmeralda ''Cubispa'' is a genus of leaf beetles consisting of two species from Central America and the Caribbean. It is classified within the tribe Cubispini, which is placed within either the Eumolpinae or the Cassidinae. Beetles in the genus are win ...

'' Staines, 2000 – found in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

* '' Cubispa turquino'' Barber, 1946 – found in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

References

Eumolpinae Cassidinae Chrysomelidae genera Beetles of Central America Insects of the Caribbean Wingless beetles Taxa named by Herbert Spencer Barber {{Eumolpinae-stub