334 Florida Entomologist 80(3) September, 1997 FEEDING RECORDS OF COSTA RICAN LEAF BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE) R. WILLS FLOWERS1 AND DANIEL H. JANZEN2 1Agricultural Research Programs, Florida A&M University Tallahassee, FL 32307-4100, rfl
[email protected] 2Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
[email protected] ABSTRACT Host plant associations are given for 137 species representing 7 subfamilies and 92 genera of Costa Rican Chrysomelidae. A numeric score is introduced to objectively describe confidence that a field observation of an interaction between a chrysomelid and a plant represents true herbivory. Literature host plant records, if they exist, are given for included chrysomelid taxa. Key Words: herbivory, Criocerinae, Chrysomelinae, Cryptocephalinae, Eumolpinae, Galerucinae, Hispinae, Lamprosominae, host plants RESUMEN Se presentan asociaciones de plantas hospederas para 137 especies de Chrysome- lidae de Costa Rica, representando 7 subfamilias y 92 géneros de escarabajos. Se in- troduce una calificación numérica para describir objetivamente la confianza en que una observación de campo de una interacción entre un escarabajo y una planta repre- senta un caso verdadero de herbivoría. Se presentan datos de plantas hospederas de la literatura, si existen, para los taxa de escarabajos incluidos. In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in relationships between tropi- cal plants and insects. The interest is driven by the related agendas of studying them for their intrinsic scientific interest, and protecting tropical biodiversity through find- ing practical and non-destructive ways to use it. The latter agenda is exemplified by the biochemical prospecting programs recently started in several areas of the world (Reid et al.