Taxonomy
- Polyphaga
- Chrysomeloidea
- Chrysomelidae
- Cassida
- Cassida murraea
Common name
Fleabane Tortoise Beetle
Images
Source: Roger Key
Source: Malcolm Storey / BioImages
Source: Lech Borowiec
Description
Size: 6.5-9.0mm
Basic colour: Green or reddish-orange (green in less mature specimens)
Pattern colour: Small black spots, especially near the elytral suture.
Number of spots: Variable
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: Black - may be tinged with other colours.
Basic colour: Green or reddish-orange (green in less mature specimens)
Pattern colour: Small black spots, especially near the elytral suture.
Number of spots: Variable
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: Black - may be tinged with other colours.
Biology
Status: Reasonable widespread in the south and west of England and Wales.
Habitat: Various damp habitats.
Host plant: Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) and Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre)
Overwintering: Unknown
Food: Adults feed on leaves of host plants (creating holes); larvae feed on the underside of leaves.
Other notes: Underside black. Dorsal colour changes from green to reddish-orange at sexual maturity. Elytra sometimes almost completely black, or without spots.
Habitat: Various damp habitats.
Host plant: Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) and Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre)
Overwintering: Unknown
Food: Adults feed on leaves of host plants (creating holes); larvae feed on the underside of leaves.
Other notes: Underside black. Dorsal colour changes from green to reddish-orange at sexual maturity. Elytra sometimes almost completely black, or without spots.
Articles
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(2004), An additional host plant for Cassida murraea Linnaeus (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) The Coleopterist 13(1):26