Taophila was first established in 1916 by the Austrian entomologist Karl Borromaeus Maria Josef Heller for a single described species, Taophila subsericea. The genus remained monotypic for nearly a century, until two further species were described in 2007. In 2010, the genus was revised by G. Allan Samuelson, who added another nine species.[2]
In 2014, entomologists Jésus Gómez-Zurita and Anabela Cardoso made a morphological and molecular phylogenetic study of the genus, using the results to propose two new subgenera: Jolivetiana and Lapita.[3] The subgenus Lapita was later found to be a junior homonym of the fly genus Lapita Bickel, 2002, and moreover the group has many morphological differences to Taophila s. str., so it was renamed to Tricholapita and elevated in rank to genus in 2020.[4]
Species
Taophila contains 21 species, which are divided into two subgenera:[2][3][5][4][6]
^ abcdefghGómez-Zurita, J.; Cardoso, A. (2014) [Published online 7 October 2013]. "Systematics of the New Caledonian endemic genus Taophila Heller (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Eumolpinae) combining morphological, molecular and ecological data, with description of two new species". Systematic Entomology. 39 (1): 111–126. doi:10.1111/syen.12038. S2CID86311766.
^ abcGómez-Zurita, J.; Platania, L.; Cardoso, A. (2020). "A new species of the genus Tricholapita nom. nov. and stat. nov. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Eumolpinae) from New Caledonia". Zootaxa. 4858 (1): 85–94. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4858.1.5. PMID33056243. S2CID222833055.
