Galerucella pusilla (Duftschmid, 1825)

Taxonomy: Polyphaga > Chrysomeloidea > Chrysomelidae > Galerucella > Galerucella pusilla

Images

Galerucella pusilla
Source:
Malcolm Storey / BioImages
Galerucella pusilla
Source:
Malcolm Storey / BioImages

Description

Size: 3.5-4.6mm
Basic colour: Yellowish-brown
Pattern colour: Small dark shoulder spot rarely extending into a longitudinal band along the side; occasionally a clear dark pronotal spot but usually not.
Number of spots: See pattern colour
Pronotoum: As basic/pattern colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Confusion species: Galerucella tenella

Palaearctic

Biology

Status: Widely scattered
Habitat: Various wetlands
Host plant: Purple-loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Overwintering: Adults in litter or topsoil
Food: Adults on yound leaf-tips prior to unfolding; larvae initially on leaf and flower buds, later on any part of the plant.
Other notes: Larvae parasitised by Closterocerus caterinae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae); adults by Centistes rufithorax (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Distribution (may take a minute to appear)