Galerucella lineola

Size
5-6mm
Basic colour
Yellowish, brownish or brick-red
Pattern colour
Dark spot on the top of the head (often entirely dark on top apart from a narrow pale margin), one on pronotum and one on each elytral shuolder
Leg colour
As basic colour

Galerucella calmariensis

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Galerucella
  • Galerucella calmariensis

Description

Size: 3.6-5.6mm
Basic colour: Dusky yellow to pale brown
Pattern colour: Elytra usually with a dark shoulder spot extending into a longitudinal band along the side, though it may be somewhat diffuse.
Number of spots: See pattern colour
Pronotoum: As basic colour with a dark spot
Leg colour: As basic colour

Palaearctic

Biology

Status: Widespread and locally common, though may be absent from Scotland.
Habitat: Usually near water e.g. sea cliffs, fens, bogs, marshes, watersides and peat cuttings.
Host plant: Purple-loosestrife Lythrum salicaria.
Overwintering: Adults hibernate in stems e.g. of dead bulrushes.
Food: Various parts of host plant - adults start on young tips prior to leaf opening, then move onto leaves; larvae start on leaf and flower buds, moving onto any part of the plant as they develop and can cause complete defoliation.
Other notes: Hymenopteran parasites: larvae parasitised by Homalotylus flaminius (Encyrtidae) and Closterocerus caterinae (Eulophidae); Adults parasitised by Centistes rufithorax (Braconidae).

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map

Galerucella lineola

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Galerucella
  • Galerucella lineola
Common name
Brown Willow Beetle

Description

Size: 5-6mm
Basic colour: Yellowish, brownish or brick-red
Pattern colour: Dark spot on the top of the head (often entirely dark on top apart from a narrow pale margin), one on pronotum and one on each elytral shuolder
Number of spots: See pattern colour
Pronotoum: See basic/pattern colours above
Leg colour: As basic colour

Palaearctic

Biology

Status: Widespread and often common
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Alders, hazel, willows, black-poplar and birch
Overwintering: Adults hibernate in sedge tussovks, under bark (on mature willows and dead wood), and in standing umbellifer stems.
Food: Leaves of host trees
Other notes: Larvae predated by heteropteran bugs Anthocoris nemorum (Anthocoridae) and Rhacognathus punctatus (Pentatomidae); several ladybird species (Coccinellidae) feed on eggs and larvae.

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map

Galerucella sagittariae

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Galerucella
  • Galerucella sagittariae

Description

Size: 4-8mm
Basic colour: Yellowish to brownish
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Confusion species: Galerucella nymphaeae

Considered to be a species complex with G. nymphaeae but the taxonomic status is unclear; the complex as a whole is more or less Holarctic.

Biology

Status: Widespread and common
Habitat: Various wetlands, beside water-bodies and also in drier habitats.
Host plant: Docks (Rumex spp) and various Rosaceae
Overwintering: Adults hibernate under leaf shealths of bulrush (Typha latifolia)
Food: Leaves of host plants
Other notes: nymphaeae is usually larger and darker (on water-lilies); sagittariae is usually smaller and paler (on various semi-aquatic and terrestrial plants, especially docks Rumex spp and Rosaceae). Larvae and adults predated by Picromerus bidens and Zicrona caerulea (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). In continental Europe, several ladybird (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) species feed on eggs and larvae.

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map

Galerucella pusilla

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Galerucella
  • Galerucella pusilla

Description

Size: 3.5-4.6mm
Basic colour: Yellowish-brown
Pattern colour: Small dark shoulder spot rarely extending into a longitudinal band along the side; occasionally a clear dark pronotal spot but usually not.
Number of spots: See pattern colour
Pronotoum: As basic/pattern colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Confusion species: Galerucella tenella

Palaearctic

Biology

Status: Widely scattered
Habitat: Various wetlands
Host plant: Purple-loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Overwintering: Adults in litter or topsoil
Food: Adults on yound leaf-tips prior to unfolding; larvae initially on leaf and flower buds, later on any part of the plant.
Other notes: Larvae parasitised by Closterocerus caterinae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae); adults by Centistes rufithorax (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map

Galerucella nymphaeae

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Galerucella
  • Galerucella nymphaeae
Common name
Water-Lily Leaf Beetle

Description

Size: 4-8mm
Basic colour: Yellowish, brownish or brick-red; elytra usually darkened with a paler margin.
Pattern colour: See basic colour
Number of spots: See pronotum
Pronotoum: As basic colour but usually with a pair of darkened spots which may be somewhat diffuse, plus a darkened central longitudinal line. The top of the head also often with a dark spot.
Leg colour: As basic colour, though there mat be some darkening.
Confusion species: Galerucella sagittariae

Considered to be a species complex with G. sagittariae but the taxonomic status is unclear; the complex as a whole is more or less Holarctic.

Biology

Status: Widespread and common
Habitat: Various wetland types
Host plant: Water-lilies
Overwintering: Adults hibernate under leaf shealths of bulrush (Typha latifolia)
Food: Leaves of host plants
Other notes: nymphaeae is usually larger and darker (on water-lilies); sagittariae is usually smaller and paler (on various semi-aquatic and terrestrial plants, especially docks Rumex spp and Rosaceae). Larvae parasitised by Closterocerus caterinae & C. lucens (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Eggs destroyed by the snail Succinea putris.

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map