Eka (beetle)

Eka is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae.[2][3] It contains only one species, Eka nigra, endemic to Silhouette Island in the Seychelles, in the low country near the coast. Both the genus and species were described by the Indian entomologist Samarendra Maulik, from a specimen collected by the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1908. The generic name comes from the Sanskrit word एक (éka), meaning "single", "alone". The genus is related to Trichochrysea.[1]

Eka
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Chrysomelidae
Subfamily:	Eumolpinae
Tribe:	Bromiini
Genus:	Eka Maulik, 1931[1]
Species:	E. nigra
Binomial name
Eka nigra Maulik, 1931[1]

Description

The body is oblong-ovate and colored black, with a very faint purplish tinge. The four segments at the base of the antennae are coloured brown, and the remaining seven segments are coloured black. The legs are brown mixed with blackish colour, the tarsi more blackish. The beetles are entirely covered in white erect hairs on the upper and under sides; those on the elytra are arranged in longitudinal rows and each hair arises out of a puncture. The length of the beetles are 1.75 mm.[1]

References

1. Maulik, S. (1931). "Coleoptera, Chrysomelidæ: Eumolpinæ, Galerucinæ and Halticinæ". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2, Zoology. 19 (2): 241–260. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1931.tb00128.x.
2. "Eka". African Eumolpinae site. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
3. Gerlach, Justin (2009). The Coleoptera of the Seychelles islands. Bulgaria: Pensoft Publishers. ISBN 978-954-642-498-3.