Taxonomy
- Polyphaga
- Chrysomeloidea
- Chrysomelidae
- Bruchidius
- Bruchidius varius
Images
Source: Lech Borowiec
Description
Size: 2.5-3mm
Basic colour: See pattern colour
Pattern colour: Dorsally with a clear pattern of whitish, golden, pale brown and dark brown scale-like pubesence.
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As pattern colour.
Leg colour: Reddish with basal parts of femora, and apices/inner edges of mid-tibiae and tarsi brownish to black.
Basic colour: See pattern colour
Pattern colour: Dorsally with a clear pattern of whitish, golden, pale brown and dark brown scale-like pubesence.
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As pattern colour.
Leg colour: Reddish with basal parts of femora, and apices/inner edges of mid-tibiae and tarsi brownish to black.
First recorded in Britain in 1994.
Biology
Status: Scattered in south and SE England.
Habitat: Mixed vegetation in a variety of habitats.
Host plant: Minaly on red clover Trifolium pratense and zigzag clover T. medium; also gorse Ulex europaeus and sea club-rush Bolboschoenus maritimus; possibly other species.
Overwintering: Asjuvenile developing in host seeds; adults emerge in July/August. Adults also hibernate, re-emerging from late April.
Food: Seeds (larvae) and pollen (adults) of host plants.
Other notes: In France and Italy, parasitised by various Hymenoptera: Eupelmus atropurpureus (Eupelmidae), Triaspis hilaris (Braconidae), Trichomalus campestris (Pteromalidae) and Systole albipennis (Eurytomidae).
Habitat: Mixed vegetation in a variety of habitats.
Host plant: Minaly on red clover Trifolium pratense and zigzag clover T. medium; also gorse Ulex europaeus and sea club-rush Bolboschoenus maritimus; possibly other species.
Overwintering: Asjuvenile developing in host seeds; adults emerge in July/August. Adults also hibernate, re-emerging from late April.
Food: Seeds (larvae) and pollen (adults) of host plants.
Other notes: In France and Italy, parasitised by various Hymenoptera: Eupelmus atropurpureus (Eupelmidae), Triaspis hilaris (Braconidae), Trichomalus campestris (Pteromalidae) and Systole albipennis (Eurytomidae).
Articles
-
(2003), Bruchidius varius (Olivier) (Col. Bruchidae) in Leicestershire The Coleopterist 12(3):113
-
(2001), Bruchidius varius (Olivier, 1795) (Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) new to Oxfordshire The Coleopterist 10(2):57
-
(1998), More records for Bruchidius varius (Olivier) (Chrysomelidae) The Coleopterist 7(2):65
-
(1997),
Bruchidius varius (Olivier) (Chrysomelidae) new to the British Isles
The Coleopterist 5(3):65