Chrysomelinae – The Leaf Beetle of Laos CHRYSOMELINAE
The many trips Michel Brancucci made to Laos for research purposes have resulted in a rich hoard of beetle specimens for the Natural History Museum Basel. There are numerous interesting species among his haul, some of which are entirely new to science.
From the biogeographical point of view, Laos is an important country, forming part of the wide area between the foothills of the Himalayas and the Mekong Delta lowlands. Beetle fauna there is as exciting as you might expect: for a long time, Laos was almost inaccessible and for that reason, hardly explored. Material from various museum collections was processed, whereby most examples came from the collections of the Natural History Museum Basel.
Brancucci's finds allow us to establish several new types of Chrysomelinae from Laos and to bring together all known species. The description of some species had to be rethought, or given a new status. More prepared material continues to arrive from Laos, and we must expect still further new species.
