Taxonomy
- Polyphaga
- Chrysomeloidea
- Chrysomelidae
- Cryptocephalus
- Cryptocephalus sexpunctatus
Common name
Six-spotted Pot Beetle
Images
Source: Ross Piper
Description
Size: 4.5-6.5mm
Basic colour: Black and red/orange-red
Pattern colour: Black spots on red/orange-red elytra
Number of spots: 3 on each elytron, sometimes fused into transverse bands.
Spot fusions: Sometimes
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: Black, usually with a variable red/orange-red mark and lateral bands.
Leg colour: Darkened; brownish, sometimes tinged with other colours.
Basic colour: Black and red/orange-red
Pattern colour: Black spots on red/orange-red elytra
Number of spots: 3 on each elytron, sometimes fused into transverse bands.
Spot fusions: Sometimes
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: Black, usually with a variable red/orange-red mark and lateral bands.
Leg colour: Darkened; brownish, sometimes tinged with other colours.
Known from a few widely scattered sites in England and Scotland, it has a UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) page here.
Biology
Status: Vulnerable (RDB2); a UK BAP species.
Habitat: Calcareous grassland with dense scrub (especially on west-facing slopes), and broad-leaved woodland.
Host plant: Various, especially trees and shrubs.
Overwintering: Life cycle takes two years.
Food: Adults feed on leaves of trees, and may also feed on pollen; larvae feed on hazel catkins and leaves, plus the leaves of low-growing plants, possibly with other food sources as well.
Other notes: Elytra sometimes black with a red spot.
Habitat: Calcareous grassland with dense scrub (especially on west-facing slopes), and broad-leaved woodland.
Host plant: Various, especially trees and shrubs.
Overwintering: Life cycle takes two years.
Food: Adults feed on leaves of trees, and may also feed on pollen; larvae feed on hazel catkins and leaves, plus the leaves of low-growing plants, possibly with other food sources as well.
Other notes: Elytra sometimes black with a red spot.
Articles
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(2009), A record of Cryptocephalus sexpunctatus (Linnaeus) (Chrysomelidae) from Worcestershire The Coleopterist 18(2):84
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(2009), Cryptocephalus sexpunctatus (Linnaeus) (Chrysomelidae) in Worcestershire The Coleopterist 18(3):200