Dr. Riley

This report presents the original nomenclature (synonymies), known distributions, and summary of known plant associations for the leaf beetle species occurring or possibly occurring within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). As used here, the term leaf beetle includes the families Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae and Chrysomelidae (sensu Reid, 1995), the latter including the seed beetles, Bruchinae.

The three sections presented under each species, i. e., the synonymy, the distribution statement, and the plant association summary, have been extracted from two of our on-going and nearly completed projects covering these subjects for the leaf beetle fauna of American north of Mexico: 1) A Catalog of the Leaf Beetles of America north of Mexico(Riley, et al.), and 2) Host Plants of Leaf Beetle Species Occurring in the United States and Canada (Clark, et al.).

The initial leaf beetle list for GSMNP was compiled from distribution data captured as part of these two studies. We included species on the GSMNP list if they were recorded from either or both North Carolina and Tennessee.

Principal Investigator

PI Name: Dr.Edward G. Riley

PI Organization: Texas A&M University

Co-investigator #1

Co-PI Name: Dr. Shawn M. Clark

Co-PI Organization: Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University

Primary Taxonomist

Taxonomist Name: Dr.Edward G. Riley

Taxonomist Organization: Texas A&M University