Phratora laticollis Suffrian, 1851
Taxonomy: Polyphaga > Chrysomeloidea > Chrysomelidae > Phratora > Phratora laticollis
Description
Size: 3.7-5mm
Basic colour: Metallic blue, sometimes greenish-blue
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Basic colour: Metallic blue, sometimes greenish-blue
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Palaearctic, from Scandinavia and western Europe to Siberia and Kamchatka.
Biology
Status: Widespread, especially in southern and eastern England
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Mainly poplars, rarely willows, crab apple and elm
Overwintering: As adults under bark and in dead wood.
Food: Adults and larvae on the underside of poplar leaves (larvae feed gregariously, removing the epidermis)
Other notes: Larvae predated by wasps (Vespidae: Eumeninae) Symmorphus bifasciatus and Ancistrocerus sp. Adults and larvae predated by pentatomid shieldbugs Arma custos and Zicrona caerulea. In continental Europe, eggs and larvae predated by hoverfly (larva) Syrphus vitripennis. Parasitised by tachinid flies Meigenia mutabilis (on larvae) and Medina luctuosa (on adults). Adults also parasitised by larvae of a braconid wasp, probably Perilitus sp. In the Netherlands, adults parasitised by larvae of the trombidiid mite Leptus ignotus.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Mainly poplars, rarely willows, crab apple and elm
Overwintering: As adults under bark and in dead wood.
Food: Adults and larvae on the underside of poplar leaves (larvae feed gregariously, removing the epidermis)
Other notes: Larvae predated by wasps (Vespidae: Eumeninae) Symmorphus bifasciatus and Ancistrocerus sp. Adults and larvae predated by pentatomid shieldbugs Arma custos and Zicrona caerulea. In continental Europe, eggs and larvae predated by hoverfly (larva) Syrphus vitripennis. Parasitised by tachinid flies Meigenia mutabilis (on larvae) and Medina luctuosa (on adults). Adults also parasitised by larvae of a braconid wasp, probably Perilitus sp. In the Netherlands, adults parasitised by larvae of the trombidiid mite Leptus ignotus.
Articles
Read, R.W.J. (1997). Three beetles new to Cumberland [Phratora laticollis, Rhynchites aequatus and Gronops lunatus]. The Coleopterist 6(3): 84.