Overview
Aphthona is a of beetle, in the leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae. More specifically, Aphthona are flea beetles, meaning they have enlarged hind legs for jumping away from potential danger.
This flea beetle genus is important because of the usefulness of some species in controlling leafy spurge, a major invasive weed in parts of western North America. Several Aphthona species have been taken from Europe and introduced into localized areas of the United States and Canada, and some success against the weed is being seen. Species used for this purpose include A. abdominalis, A. cyparissiae, A. czwalinae, and A. flava.
Species

Photos
Taxonomy
- Domain: Eukaryota
Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Animalia
Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
(Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
- Branch: Protostomia
Grobben, 1908 - protostomes
- Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa
Aguinaldo Et Al., 1997 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - ecdysozoans
- Superphylum: Panarthropoda
Cuvier
- Phylum: Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829
- Subphylum: Mandibulata
Snodgrass, 1938
- Infraphylum: Atelocerata
Heymons, 1901
- Superclass: Panhexapoda
- Class: Insecta
C. Linnaeus, 1758
- Subclass: Dicondylia
- Infraclass: Pterygota
- Winged Insects
- Order: Coleoptera
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Beetles
- Suborder: Polyphaga
Emery, 1886
- Infraorder: Cucujiformia
- Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea
- Family: Chrysomelidae
Latreille, 1802 - Leaf Beetles
- Subfamily: Halticinae
- Genus: Aphthona
- Subfamily: Halticinae
- Family: Chrysomelidae
Latreille, 1802 - Leaf Beetles
- Superfamily: Chrysomeloidea
- Infraorder: Cucujiformia
- Suborder: Polyphaga
Emery, 1886
- Order: Coleoptera
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Beetles
- Infraclass: Pterygota
- Winged Insects
- Subclass: Dicondylia
- Class: Insecta
C. Linnaeus, 1758
- Superclass: Panhexapoda
- Infraphylum: Atelocerata
Heymons, 1901
- Subphylum: Mandibulata
Snodgrass, 1938
- Phylum: Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829
- Superphylum: Panarthropoda
Cuvier
- Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa
Aguinaldo Et Al., 1997 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - ecdysozoans
- Branch: Protostomia
Grobben, 1908 - protostomes
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
(Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
- Kingdom: Animalia
Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
The Genus Aphthona is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 93 species and subspecies in the Genus Aphthona: A. abdominalis (Minute Spurge Flea Beetle) · A. adelaidae · A. aeneomicans · A. albertinae · A. alcina · A. atrocaerulea · A. atrovirens · A. atroviridescens · A. beckeri · A. biokovensis · A. bohemani · A. bombeyensis · A. bonvouloiri · A. carbonaria · A. chinchihi (Flea Beetle) · A. coerulea · A. constantini · A. convexior · A. coreana · A. crassipes · A. cyanella · A. cyparissae · A. cyparissiae (Brown Dot Leafy Spurge Flea Beetle) · A. czwalinae (Black Leafy Spurge Flea Beetle) · A. czwalinai · A. delicatula · A. depressa · A. erichsoni · A. espagnoli · A. euphorbiae · A. flava (Copper Leafy Spurge Flea Beetle) · A. flaviceps · A. formosana · A. foudrasi · A. franzi · A. fuentei · A. gomerensis · A. gracilis · A. herbigrada · A. illigeri · A. janthina · A. juliana · A. kuntzei · A. lacertosa (Brown-Legged Spurge Flea Beetle) · A. lutescens · A. maculata · A. maldesi · A. marshalli · A. melancholica · A. nigriceps · A. nigrilabris · A. nigriscutis (Black Dot Spurge Flea Beetle) · A. nigriscutus · A. nigrita · A. nonstriata · A. occidentalis · A. occitana · A. ovata · A. paivana · A. pallida · A. parnassicola · A. perminuta · A. perminuta(Baly · A. perminuta(Baly) · A. perrisi · A. picipes · A. placida · A. plenifrons · A. punctiventris · A. pusilla · A. pygmaea · A. relucens · A. samoana · A. sandrae · A. sardea · A. sarmatica · A. scutellata · A. semicyanea · A. seriata (Flea Beetle) · A. signatifrons · A. strigosa · A. stussineri · A. subovata · A. thickana · A. torrentium · A. tristis · A. valachica · A. variolosa · A. venustula · A. violacea · A. wachnitzae · A. wagneri · A. wollastoni
Sources
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