CLASSIFICATION, RECONSTRUCTED PHYLOGENY, AND GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD MEMBERS OFPLATEUMARISTHOMSON, 1859 (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE: DONACIINAE)
Authors: Askevold Ingolf S. 
Published: April 2011

AbstractNorth American members of the genusPlateumarisThomson, 1859, are revised; 17 species are recognized and 23 taxonomic changes are made in their classification.Plateumarisballi andP.schaefferiare described as new species. Names elevated from subspecies to species rank areP.robusta(Schaeffer) andP.frosti(Schaeffer);P.aurifera(LeConte) is revalidated, removed from junior synonymy withP.wallisi(Schaeffer);Donacia idolaHatch is considered a junior subjective synonym ofP.dubia(Schaeffer);D.pyritosaLeConte is considered a junior subjective synonym ofP.pusilla(Say); an altered species concept is transferred toP.flavipes(Kirby), withD.wallisiSchaeffer as a new junior subjective synonym, andP.flavipesof authors is correctly namedP.shoemakeri(Schaeffer);D.longicollisSchaeffer andD.vermiculataSchaeffer are considered new junior subjective synonyms ofP.neomexicana(Schaeffer);D.flavipennisMannerheim is considered a junior subjective synonym ofP.germari(Mannerheim);D.rufaSay (notD.rufaof authors) is transferred toPlateumarisfromDonacia, with an altered species concept applied to it, andD.affinisKirby,D.sulcicollisLacordaire,D.chalceaLacordaire,D.kirbyiLacordaire, andD.jucundaLeConte are considered new junior subjective synonyms ofP.rufa(Say). The taxon previously consideredD.nitidaGermar (sensu Schaeffer) is redescribed asP.schaefferi;P.nitida(Germar) is a valid, different species, withD.emarginataKirby,D.juncinaCouper, andD.pacificaSchaeffer considered new junior subjective synonyms ofP.nitida. Neotypes are designated forDonacia pusillaSay,Donacia rufaSay,Donacia metallicaAhrens andDonacia nanaMelsheimer; lectotypes are designated for all other names, where necessary.Among Palaearctic taxa,Plateumaris morimotoiKimoto andP.hirashimaiKimoto are considered new junior subjective synonyms ofP.weiseiDuvivier, andP.sachalinensisMedvedev,P.orientalisShavrov andDonacia mongolicaSemenov are considered probable junior subjective synonyms ofP.weisei;P.sulcifronsWeise andP.affinis(Kunze) and its synonyms are considered new junior subjective synonyms ofP.rustica(Kunze);P.caucasicaZaitsev is considered a probable junior subjective synonym ofP.roscidaWeise;P.discolor(Panzer) (and its synonyms) andP.lacordairii(Perris) are considered junior subjective synonyms ofP.sericea(L.); newP.obsoletaJacobson andP.sociaChen are considered probable junior subjective synonyms ofP.sericea.Based on phylogenetic analysis, five species groups are recognized, theP.braccatagroup (two species),P.rufagroup (five species),P.pusillagroup (eight species),P.shoemakerigroup (four species), andP.nitidagroup (seven species). The current subgeneric classification ofPlateumarisis rejected. Characters hitherto used for subgenera ofPlateumarisare shown to be either plesiomorphic or widely distributed among unrelated taxa; the relatively minor structural differences do not merit use of a subgeneric classification.JuliusinaReitter is a junior objective synonym ofPlateumarisThomson.Based on fossil and chorological data, the geographic history of donaciines in general and ofPlateumarisin particular is deduced to be so old as to obscure correlations of more recent phylogenetic divergences with specific geologic events. The geographic history of even the most highly derived donaciine groups extends well into the Cretaceous. Therefore, explanations are speculative beyond the generality that donaciines have a long geologic history.