crowded flea beetle

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Crowded flea beetle is a common skeletonizing leaf beetle. It occurs in the United States east of the Great Plains and in adjacent Canadian provinces. Adults and larvae are found in wet areas, including marshes. Like most skeletonizing leaf beetles (Subfamily Galerucinae), they are specialists, feeding on a closely related group of plants, in this case goldenrods (Solidago spp.).

The body is oblong oval. The head, the plate covering the thorax (pronotum), and the hardened wing covers (elytra) are yellowish. The head is clearly visible when viewed from above. It is not narrowed into a neck at the rear. It has a dark spot on top in the middle. The compound eyes are dark.

The pronotum is much wider than long and has distinct flattened margins on the sides. The base is slightly narrower than the base of the elytra. It has a dark longitudinal stripe in the middle and a dark spot on each side.

The elytra are rounded in the shoulder (humeral) area, nearly parallel along the sides, and broadly rounded at the tip. They are widest near the rear. Each elytron has three distinct, dark, longitudinal stripes. The stripes are unbroken from the base to the tip. The surface is densely covered with shallow punctures and with minute stiff hairs.

The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has five segments but the fourth segment is minute, making it appear that there are only four segments.

Total length: ⅛″ to ¼″ (4.2 to 5.5 mm)

Wet. Marshes.

June to July

Goldenrod

Goldenrod

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82.

Common

crowded flea beetle

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota