Psylliodes sophiae

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Psylliodes
  • Psylliodes sophiae

Description

Size: 2.8-3.7mm
Basic colour: Elytra dark metallic blue
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: Usually reddish, sometimes very dark brown.
Leg colour: Largely dark/blackish
Confusion species: Psylliodes chrysocephala

Palaearctic, but only confirmed from Britain, Germany, Dagestan and Turkey as many specimens are misidentified P. chrysocephala. Therefore take care to compare these species.

Biology

Status: Very local, a few sites in East Anglia only. Rare (RDB3)
RDB Category: Rare (RDB3)
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Flixweed, Descurainia sophia, though woad (Isatis tinctoria) should also be checked as this is a host in continental Europe.
Overwintering: Unknown.
Food: Adults on leaves, larvae are miners in pithy stems.

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map

Pyrrhalta viburni

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Pyrrhalta
  • Pyrrhalta viburni

Description

Size: 4.5-6.5mm
Basic colour: Yellow-brown, sometimes elytra with a reddish-brown tinge.
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour, only slightly wider than the head (which distinguishes it from Galerucella spp.)
Leg colour: As basic colour

Palaearctic (ssp. annulicornis in Japan); introduced into Canada.

Biology

Status: Fairly common in England, sparse in Wales and Ireland, one old record from Scotland.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Viburnum spp.
Overwintering: As eggs in cavities chewed into stems of host plants and covered by a hard, dried cap of mucus and faeces or regurgitated food.
Food: Adults and larvae both on stems and leaves.
Other notes: Predated by several species of pentatomid shieldbug; eggs predated by the ant Myrmica sabuleti and damaged by the mite Thyreophagus entomophagus. Adults eaten by coal tit and bullfinch. Eggs parasitised by severl hymenopteran species. Adults infected (fatally) by the fungus Beauveria bassiana.

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Psylliodes luteola

RDB Category
Insufficiently Known (RDBK)
Size
2.2-3.1mm
Basic colour
Dusky-yellow to reddish; similar to teneral specimens of P. picina but separated by fine details of the head.
Pattern colour
None
Leg colour
As basic colour

Psylliodes marcida

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Psylliodes
  • Psylliodes marcida

Description

Size: 3.2-3.8mm
Basic colour: Yellowish to brownish
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Confusion species: Psylliodes chrysocephala

Palaearctic (where there is a coastline), including North Africa.

Biology

Status: Widespread around coasts
Habitat: Sand dunes, less often on roadside verges
Host plant: Sea rocket (Cakile maritima) and other Brassicaceae
Overwintering: As adults
Food: Adults on leaves, larvae are leaf- and stem-miners
Other notes: Similar to P. chrysocephala ssp. anglica but has distinct front angles on the pronotum, coarse punctures on top of the head (compared to those between elytral striae) and 1st front tarsal segment narrower than the 3rd in males.

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Distribution Map

Psylliodes luteola

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Psylliodes
  • Psylliodes luteola

Description

Size: 2.2-3.1mm
Basic colour: Dusky-yellow to reddish; similar to teneral specimens of P. picina but separated by fine details of the head.
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Confusion species: Psylliodes picina

Western Palaearctic

Biology

Status: Very localised in central southern England (as far north as Derbyshire), with most records from Oxfordshire. It may have become more widespread since the late 1980s but this requires confirmation (hence RDBK status)
RDB Category: Insufficiently Known (RDBK)
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Various cereals and wild grasses; also trees and shrubs.
Overwintering: As larvae, then probably as adults the year after.
Food: Adults inside wheat seeds and one developing leaves/sheaths (they can create bare areas in fields and skeletonise oak leaves); larvae probably at the roots of grasses.
Other notes: Adults parasitised by a braconid wasp (probably Perilitus sp.), a nematode, and numerous mites (all unidentified).

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Distribution Map