Phratora polaris Schneider, 1886
Taxonomy: Polyphaga > Chrysomeloidea > Chrysomelidae > Phratora > Phratora polaris
Description
Size: 3.8-4.6mm
Basic colour: Shiny bronze to bronze-black
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Basic colour: Shiny bronze to bronze-black
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Angarian (i.e. related to Angaraland, the landmass that became NE Asia); found in the forest zone - Scandinavia (including Icelandic heaths), Germany, Austria, parts of Russia (including Karelia, Siberia and Kamchatka) and Mongolia.
Biology
Status: Rare (RDB3), only found in northern and western Scotland; probably under-recorded.
Habitat: From 700-1100m altitude in Scottish mountains, associated with grassland on dolomitic outcrops where there is a thick covering of woolly fringe-moss (Racomitrium lanuginosum) through which dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) shoots protrude.
Host plant: Woolly fringe-moss (Racomitrium lanuginosum) and dwarf willow (Salix herbacea), sometimes on other willows and birches.
Overwintering: Probably as adults; in Iceland hibernation occurs in the pupal cell in the soil, but this is unconfirmed, and uncertain in Britain.
Food: Adults on leaves, larvae on the underside of leaves where they remove the epidermis.
Other notes: Adults parasitised by larvae of a tachinid fly, probably Medina luctuosa. Eggs and larvae predated by larvae of a hoverfly (Parasyrphus sp.) in continental Europe, and larvae predated by lycosid & thomisid spiders in Finland.
Habitat: From 700-1100m altitude in Scottish mountains, associated with grassland on dolomitic outcrops where there is a thick covering of woolly fringe-moss (Racomitrium lanuginosum) through which dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) shoots protrude.
Host plant: Woolly fringe-moss (Racomitrium lanuginosum) and dwarf willow (Salix herbacea), sometimes on other willows and birches.
Overwintering: Probably as adults; in Iceland hibernation occurs in the pupal cell in the soil, but this is unconfirmed, and uncertain in Britain.
Food: Adults on leaves, larvae on the underside of leaves where they remove the epidermis.
Other notes: Adults parasitised by larvae of a tachinid fly, probably Medina luctuosa. Eggs and larvae predated by larvae of a hoverfly (Parasyrphus sp.) in continental Europe, and larvae predated by lycosid & thomisid spiders in Finland.