Taophila is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia.
Taxonomy
Taophila was first established in 1916 by the Austrian entomologist Karl Borromaeus Maria Josef Heller for a single described species, Taophila subsericea. The genus remained monotypic for nearly a century, until two further species were described in 2007. In 2010, the genus was revised by G. Allan Samuelson, who added another nine species.
In 2014, entomologists Jésus Gómez-Zurita and Anabela Cardoso made a morphological and molecular phylogenetic study of the genus, using the results to propose two new subgenera: Jolivetiana and Lapita. The subgenus Lapita was later found to be a junior homonym of the fly genus Lapita Bickel, 2002, and moreover the group has many morphological differences to Taophila s. str., so it was renamed to Tricholapita and elevated in rank to genus in 2020.
Species
Taophila contains 21 species, which are divided into two subgenera:
- Subgenus Taophila <small>Heller, 1916</small>
- Taophila bituberculata <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila carinata <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila corvi <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila dapportoi <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila davincii <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila deimos <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila draco <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila goa <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila hackae <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila hydrae <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila joliveti <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila millei <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila nigrans <small>Jolivet, Verma & Mille, 2007</small>
- Taophila sagittarii <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila samuelsoni <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila scorpii <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila sideralis <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila subsericea <small>Heller, 1916</small> (synonym: Taophila mandjeliae <small>(Jolivet, Verma & Mille, 2010)</small>)
- Taophila taaluny <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Taophila wanati <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2021</small>
- Subgenus Jolivetiana <small>Gómez-Zurita & Cardoso, 2014</small>
- Taophila mantillerii <small>Jolivet, Verma & Mille, 2007</small>
Species now in Tricholapita <small>Gómez-Zurita & Cardoso, 2020</small> (formerly the subgenus Lapita <small>Gómez-Zurita & Cardoso, 2014 nec Bickel, 2002</small>):
- Taophila aphrodita <small>Gómez-Zurita, 2014</small>
- Taophila atlantis <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila gaea <small>Gómez-Zurita, 2014</small>
- Taophila hermes <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila kronos <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila mars <small>Samuelson, 2010</small>
- Taophila oceanica <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila olympica <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila ouranos <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila riberai <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
- Taophila tridentata <small>Platania & Gómez-Zurita, 2019</small>
T. cancellata <small>Samuelson, 2010</small> was tentatively transferred to Dematochroma in 2014, then was proposed as a synonym of Dumbea striata in 2023, which was then transferred to the genus Cazeresia in 2025.
References