Taxonomy
- Polyphaga
- Chrysomeloidea
- Chrysomelidae
- Phratora
- Phratora vitellinae
Common name
Brassy Willow Beetle
Images
Source: Malcolm Storey / BioImages
Description
Size: 3.8-5mm
Basic colour: Variable - usually metallic brassy/bronze, sometimes greenish to bluish, rarely near-black.
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Basic colour: Variable - usually metallic brassy/bronze, sometimes greenish to bluish, rarely near-black.
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Holarctic
Biology
Status: Widespread and common
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Willows and poplars
Overwintering: As adults under bark, in dead wood and in wooden fenceposts etc.
Food: Adults on the underside of leaves; ;arvae gregarious, also on the underside of leaves from which they remove the epidermis - in large numbers they can make leaves appear brown and scorched.
Other notes: Parasitised by various hymenopterans, tachinid flies and nematodes. Predated by a wide range of invertebrate species in a number of major groups.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Willows and poplars
Overwintering: As adults under bark, in dead wood and in wooden fenceposts etc.
Food: Adults on the underside of leaves; ;arvae gregarious, also on the underside of leaves from which they remove the epidermis - in large numbers they can make leaves appear brown and scorched.
Other notes: Parasitised by various hymenopterans, tachinid flies and nematodes. Predated by a wide range of invertebrate species in a number of major groups.