Research on Chrysomelidae (RoC) 5 is dedicated to Pierre Jolivet for his immense contributions to leaf beetle research.

RoC 5 brings new and interesting results of recent research on leaf beetles. Herein, Pierre Jolivet takes readers on a historical ride - as only he can do - through 30 years of research on chrysomelids and camaraderie amongst this friendly scientific group. Three systematic papers follow, including the description of four new eumolpines from New Caledonia, penned by Al Samuelson. Another paper, co-authored by Chi-Feng Lee and Jan Bezdek, reorganizes the diversity of Taiwanese “Phyllobotrica”. A third paper, by Maurizio Biondi and Paola D’Alessandro, revises the flea beetle genus, Notomela from Principe Island, West Africa. Four ecological papers add new information on chrysomelids. Vivian Flinte et al. suggest that temperature and rainfall appear to be major distributional determinants of leaf beetles in southern Brazil. Angela Bouzan et al. show that 20% of the species in their survey tend to be found in mountain tops. Importantly, they add, “[w]e would expect these species to be ones most prone to extinction in a scenario of climate warming or even after local disturbances”. Federico Agrain et al. discuss cryptocephalines as ant nests associates and suggest that “based on the minimum age of a fossil larva dated to 45 mya, we can infer that the origin of cryptocephaline myrmecophily could have arisen within the Upper Cretaceous or later.” Lastly, José Jurado-Rivera and Eduard Petitpierre shed light of the intricate path of insect-plant evolutionary interactions of Chrysolina. Michael Schmitt and Gabriele Uhl use novel imaging technology to show how male and female reproductive organs of Donacia semicuprea and Lilioceris lilii fit during copulation.

We wholeheartedly hope you will enjoy reading Research on Chrysomelidae 5.