Epitrix atropae Foudras, 1860

Taxonomy: Polyphaga > Chrysomeloidea > Chrysomelidae > Epitrix > Epitrix atropae

Common name: 

Belladonna Flea Beetle

Images

Epitrix atropae
Source:
Roger Key

Description

Size: 1.5-2.1mm
Basic colour: Dark brown to black
Pattern colour: Elytra with yellow-orange spots at the apex and usually the shoulders
Number of spots: See pattern colour (2 or 4)
Pronotoum: As basic colour, shiny
Leg colour: As basic colour

Palaearctic.

Biology

Status: Scarce (Notable B), scattered in southern and eastern England.
Habitat: Various (historically on commercial deadly nightshade crops)
Host plant: Various Solanaceae, especially Deadly Nightshade Atropa belladonna
Overwintering: As adults in grassy borders of ditches and hedgerows.
Food: Adults on leaves (sometimes skeletonising them), larvae on roots.

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)