Integrative taxonomic revision of the New Caledonian endemic genus Taophila Heller (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Eumolpinae). DNA taxonomy of Taophila

There are 96 endemic species of Eumolpinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) described from New Caledonia, but some estimates propose that the actual number could be at least twice this figure. Not surprisingly, when a particular species assemblage has been revised, the number of species in that group increases significantly. Here, we revise the New Caledonian endemic genus Taophila Heller, 1916, the best studied in this fauna and currently known to include eleven species, one in the subgenus Jolivetiana Gómez-Zurita & Cardoso, 2014, and ten in the nominal subgenus. The analysis of morphological differences in a large sample of Taophila and the validation of the resulting species hypotheses in an integrative fashion based on a phylogenetic analysis of partial mtDNA sequences (cox1 and rrnS) resulted in the addition of eleven more taxa. Taxonomic splits mainly reinterpreted the previous observation of mtDNA paraphyly affecting T. subsericea Heller, 1916, shown to represent a complex of species mostly distinguishable by diagnostic differences among females. The new species described are: T. bituberculata n. sp., T. bituberculata ssp. dapportoi n. ssp., T. carinata n. sp., T. davincii n. sp., T. draco n. sp., T. goa n. sp., T. hackae n. sp., T. samuelsoni n. sp., T. sideralis n. sp., T. taaluny n. sp. and T. wanati n. sp. These additions and the synonymy T. subsericea Heller = Stethotes mandjeliae Jolivet, Verma & Mille, 2010 n. syn., bring to 20 the total number of species in Taophila. Moreover, we also found the first evidence of mtDNA introgression between species of New Caledonian Eumolpinae, resulting from putative recent hybridisation of T. subsericea and T. bituberculata ssp. dapportoi where these species coexist. We describe a model incorporating the mtDNA genealogy of T. subsericea about the conditions that may have favoured the secondary geographic encounter required for the hybridisation of these species.