Phyllotreta striolata (Fabricius, 1803)

Taxonomy

  • Polyphaga
  • Chrysomeloidea
  • Chrysomelidae
  • Phyllotreta
  • Phyllotreta striolata
Common name
Striped Flea Beetle

Description

Size: 1.9-2.5mm
Basic colour: Yellow and black
Pattern colour: Elytra black with longitudinal yellow stripe (rarely broken into two marks). Some basal antennal segments yellow-brown to reddish, the others dark.
Number of spots: See pattern
Pronotoum: Black
Leg colour: Mainly dark, tibiae and tarsi partly yellow-brown

Palaearctic - now cosmopolitan throughout Europe, Asia and the far East; introduced into North America & South Africa,

Biology

Status: Scattered and very local in England and Wales, old records from Ireland, not recorded from Scotland. Scarce (Notable A)
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Various wild and cultivated Brassicaceae
Overwintering: As adults
Food: Adults on leaves (in large numbers can cause crop damage with 'scorching' appearance of leaves), larvae on roots and subterranean stems
Other notes: Adults parasitised by braconid wasps Perilitus vittatae, P. epitricis, P. punctulatae and P. psylliodis, and the nematode Howardula phyllotretae.

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)

Distribution Map