Cryptocephalus querceti

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Cryptocephalus
  • Cryptocephalus querceti

Description

Size: 2.5-3.4mm
Basic colour: Black, or black and dark brown
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None, though sometimes with a small red mark near the inner edge of the eye.
Pronotoum: Black
Leg colour: Yellow
Confusion species: Cryptocephalus exiguus
, Confusion species: Cryptocephalus labiatus

Previously known from 5 widely separated sites. Currently well-established in Windsor Forest/Great Park, although its status at the other four sites is unknown.

Biology

Status: Vulnerable (RDB2).
Habitat: Ancient broad-leaved pasture-woodland, parkland and forests; favours open parkland over closed-canopy woodland.
Host plant: Oaks, sometimes hawthorns.
Overwintering: Unknown, although larvae may take a year to develop fully.
Food: Adults feed on oak leaves; larvae feed on oak litter and debris in holes in boles of old oaks.
Other notes: Similar to the common C. labiatus and the rare C. exiguus. Elytra dark brown to black. Front of head black.

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Cryptocephalus labiatus

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Cryptocephalus
  • Cryptocephalus labiatus

Description

Size: 2.0-2.8mm
Basic colour: Shiny black.
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: Black
Leg colour: Yellowish, but with femora, tibiae and tarsi at least partly dark brown or black.
Confusion species: Cryptocephalus exiguus
, Confusion species: Cryptocephalus querceti

Biology

Status: Common and widespread.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Various
Overwintering: Development from egg to adult takes about one year.
Food: Usually birch leaves, also pollen and the leaves of other plants.
Other notes: Similar to the rarer C. querceti and C. exiguus.

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Cryptocephalus exiguus

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Cryptocephalus
  • Cryptocephalus exiguus
Common name
Pashford Pot Beetle

Description

Size: 2.0-3.2mm
Basic colour: Black
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: Black
Leg colour: Orange-yellow
Confusion species: Cryptocephalus labiatus
, Confusion species: Cryptocephalus querceti

Known only from a few sites in eastern England, with recent records (to 2000) only from Pashford Poors Fen, Suffolk - however drainage of surrounding agricultural fields which had led to drying of the site means that it is feared that this species may be extinct. It has a UK BAP page here.

Biology

Status: Endangered (RDB1), possibly extinct. A UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) species.
Habitat: Wetlands, especially mixed fen or fen meadow.
Host plant: Various, especially sorrels
Overwintering: Unknown, although larval diapause may occur.
Food: Possibly leaves and fruit e.g. of Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa).
Other notes: Similar to C. querceti and the much commoner C. labiatus but the pronotum is finely longitudinally ridged rathar than being smooth (and in C. labiatus especially, very shiny). In males, the front of the head is mostly yellow with a central black stripe, or separate black marks by antennae; in C. querceti and males of C. labiatus, the front of the head is black.

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Cryptocephalus decemmaculatus

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Cryptocephalus
  • Cryptocephalus decemmaculatus
Common name
Ten-spotted Pot Beetle

Description

Size: 3.5-5.0mm
Basic colour: Black and yellow
Pattern colour: Black spots on a yellow background
Number of spots: 5 on each elytron
Spot fusions: Sometimes
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: Black with a variable and irregular central yellow band and narrow yellow side margins.
Leg colour: Yellow or orange-yellow

Known from very few locations in Britain, this beetle has a UK BAP page here.

Biology

Status: Vulnerable (RDB2); a UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species.
Habitat: Broad-leaved woodland, especially on wet hillsides or in areas with quaking bogs.
Host plant: Willows, alder and downy birch.
Overwintering: Unknown
Food: Leaves of host plants.
Other notes: Head black with yellow marking on the top and front. Known mainly from two areas in Perthshire and Staffordshire. The 'bothnicus' variety is entirely black or dark brown, sometimes with a yellow mark on the pronotum.

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Cryptocephalus coryli

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Cryptocephalus
  • Cryptocephalus coryli
Common name
Hazel Pot Beetle

Description

Size: 5.8-7.5mm
Basic colour: See notes below (sexually dimorphic).
Pattern colour: See notes below.
Number of spots: See notes below.
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: Black (males) or orange/orange-red (females)
Leg colour: Blackish - may be tinged with other colours.

A sexually dimorphic species which has declined since the 1950s. Its UK BAP page is here.

Biology

Status: Endangered (RDB1), scattered in eastern England. UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species.
Habitat: Clearings and ride margins in broad-leaved woodland on south-facing slopes, calcareous grassland/downs, moorland.
Host plant: Birches and other trees
Overwintering: Unknown
Food: Leaves of host plants. Larvae also use catkins and fallen leaves.
Other notes: Pronotum black in males, orange in females. Elytra orange-red with a fine black suture; males sometimes with an indistinct black spot on the 'shoulder' and disc. Head with the top yellow-orange, sometimes mostly black in males.

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