Taxonomy
- Polyphaga
- Chrysomeloidea
- Chrysomelidae
- Oulema
- Oulema melanopus
Common name
Cereal Leaf Beetle
Images
Source: Keith Edkins
Description
Size: 4..3-5.3mm
Basic colour: Dark blue (elytra) and orange-red
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: Orange-red
Leg colour: Orange-red with dark tarsi
Confusion species: Oulema rufocyanea
Basic colour: Dark blue (elytra) and orange-red
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: Orange-red
Leg colour: Orange-red with dark tarsi
Confusion species: Oulema rufocyanea
Not separated from O. rufocyanea by British coleopterists until the 1990s. Therefore many records before this could be attributed to either species. For a map of this undifferentiated data see here.
Biology
Status: Widespread and often common, especially in England and Wales.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Various cereals and grasses; oats and barley are preferred over wheat, which is in turn preferred over rye, maize and wild grasses.
Overwintering: Adults overwinter from September to April/May.
Food: Leaves of host plants.
Other notes: Very similar to O.rufocyanea, but usually larger with more convex elytra. Certain separation requires dissection of the aedeagus which has a thick flagellum in O. melanopus and a thin one in O. rufocyanea.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Various cereals and grasses; oats and barley are preferred over wheat, which is in turn preferred over rye, maize and wild grasses.
Overwintering: Adults overwinter from September to April/May.
Food: Leaves of host plants.
Other notes: Very similar to O.rufocyanea, but usually larger with more convex elytra. Certain separation requires dissection of the aedeagus which has a thick flagellum in O. melanopus and a thin one in O. rufocyanea.
Articles
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(2002), Notes on Oulema melanopus (L.) (Chrysomelidae) in Ireland The Coleopterist 11(1):17
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(1999), Oulema melanopus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Chrysomelidae) in Yorkshire The Coleopterist 8(3):111
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(1995),
Identification of the Oulema 'melanopus' species group (Chrysomelidae)
The Coleopterist 4(2):33 -
(1994), Oulema 'melanopus' (Chrysomelidae) in Britain The Coleopterist 3(1):6