Epicauta

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Genus of beetles

title: "Epicauta" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["meloidae", "taxa-named-by-pierre-françois-marie-auguste-dejean", "tenebrionoidea-genera"] description: "Genus of beetles" topic_path: "general/meloidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicauta" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of beetles ::

| image = Epicauta hirticornis (Haag-Rutenberg, 1880).jpg | image_alt = Epicauta hirticornis | image_caption = Epicauta hirticornis | display_parents = 2 | parent_authority = J.B. Parker & Böving, 1924 | taxon = Epicauta | authority = Dejean, 1834 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = about 360

Epicauta is a genus of beetles in the blister beetle family, Meloidae. The genus was first scientifically described in 1834 by Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean. Epicauta is distributed nearly worldwide, with species native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Surveys have found the genus to be particularly diverse in northern Arizona in the United States. Few species occur in the Arctic, with none farther north than the southern edge of the Northwest Territories, Canada.

Adult beetles feed on plants. The larvae are predators on the eggs of grasshoppers.

This is one of the largest blister beetle genera, with about 360 described species as of 2011.

Species

References

References

  1. [http://insects.tamu.edu/research/collection/hallan/test/Arthropoda/Insects/Coleoptera/Family/Meloidae.txt Meloidae] in [http://insects.tamu.edu/research/collection/hallan/test/Arthropoda/Insects/Coleoptera/Family/Coleoptera1.htm Synopsis of the Described Coleoptera of the World June 6, 2010] {{webarchive. link. (October 20, 2013)
  2. Kerr, J. T. and L. Packer. (1999). [http://macroecology.ca/pdf/biodcons1999.pdf The environmental basis of North American species richness patterns among ''Epicauta'' (Coleoptera: Meloidae).] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-01-05 ''Biodiversity & Conservation'' 8(5), 617-28.)
  3. The beetles can significantly damage plants, and many ''Epicauta'' are known as agricultural [[pest (organism). pests]] around the world, even known to cause crop failures at times. As do other blister beetles, these produce [[cantharidin]], a toxic [[terpenoid]] which can kill animals such as horses if they ingest enough of the beetles.DiFonzo, C. [http://www.msuent.com/assets/pdf/19Blisterbeetle.pdf Cantharidin content and lethal dose of common Michigan blister beetles.] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-03-04 Field Crops Entomology, Michigan State University. 2009.)
  4. Campos-Soldini, M. P. and S. A. Roig-Juñent. (2011). [http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/z02824p043f.pdf Redefinition of the ''vittata'' species group of ''Epicauta'' Dejean (1834) (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and taxonomic revision of the species from southern South America.] ''Zootaxa'' 2824, 21-43.

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meloidaetaxa-named-by-pierre-françois-marie-auguste-dejeantenebrionoidea-genera