Eumolpus

Eumolpus is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It includes 40 species, most of which have a large size and include some of the largest members of the subfamily. They are distributed throughout the Neotropical realm, though one species (Eumolpus robustus) has been recorded as far north as Arizona (in the United States), and the genus is not found in the Caribbean. Etymology The name of the genus is either derived from the Ancient Greek (eúmolpos), or is named after Eumolpus from Greek mythology, who was the son of Poseidon and Chione. Taxonomic history The genus in its current sense is attributed to Weber, 1801. However, the name Eumolpus was first used in Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger's Verzeichniß der Käfer Preußens in 1798, where it was attributed to Johann Gottlieb Kugelann, and originally consisted of European species now placed in the genera Chrysochus and Bromius. While most authors followed Weber, 1801, some recent European entomologists have followed Warchałowski, who synonymised Chrysochus with Eumolpus in 1993, designating Chrysomela praetiosa as the type species of Eumolpus. This designation by Warchałowski was invalid, since Latreille had designated Cryptocephalus vitis as the type species of Eumolpus in 1810, which placed Bromius in synonymy with Eumolpus. This threatened stability for Eumolpus, Bromius and Chrysochus.