Longitarsus pratensis (Panzer, 1794)
Taxonomy: Polyphaga > Chrysomeloidea > Chrysomelidae > Longitarsus > Longitarsus pratensis
Description
Size: 1.2-1.8mm
Basic colour: Yellowish, orange or orange-brown
Pattern colour: None, head brown to blackish, sometimes pitchy.
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour, hind femora darkened.
Confusion species: Longitarsus reichei
Basic colour: Yellowish, orange or orange-brown
Pattern colour: None, head brown to blackish, sometimes pitchy.
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour, hind femora darkened.
Confusion species: Longitarsus reichei
Palaearctic, including the Middle East, North Africa & Cape Verde; introduced into North America.
Biology
Status: Widespread and common (scattered in Scotland and Ireland)
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Plantains (Plantago spp.)
Overwintering: As adults in moss, possibly also as eggs and larvae.
Food: Adults on leaves and possibly pollen, larvae on parenchyma (inner cells between the upper and lower surfaces) of leaves.
Other notes: Adults parasitised by unidentified nematodes, and by larvae of a braconid wasp, probably Perilitus sp. Elytra less elongate than in L. reichei, which has the head dark reddish or pitchy yellow and blackish on top.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Plantains (Plantago spp.)
Overwintering: As adults in moss, possibly also as eggs and larvae.
Food: Adults on leaves and possibly pollen, larvae on parenchyma (inner cells between the upper and lower surfaces) of leaves.
Other notes: Adults parasitised by unidentified nematodes, and by larvae of a braconid wasp, probably Perilitus sp. Elytra less elongate than in L. reichei, which has the head dark reddish or pitchy yellow and blackish on top.