Chrysomelidae: Leaf Beetles

   Hello all! Choosing the topic for this blog post was more difficult than usual! Between this month and last, we've seen so many new things emerging including birds, plants, rodents, and so many insects! So, picking a topic out of everything was difficult. I decided to write about one of my favorite families within my favorite insect order: Chrysomelidae, leaf beetles. 

   This is going to be a little bit longer of a post because I have so many subjects in this family. Beetles are kind of my favorite thing, although I do say that about many things we see. I'm going to list the species I have and I'll disperse their photos throughout the post: Eastern spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), Small orange tortoise beetle (Charidotella purpurata), Golden tortoise beetle (Charidotella sexpunctata), and a few others I have identified down to just the family level.

   This family includes over 37,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, which makes it one of the largest and most commonly encountered beetles of all!

Most members are small to medium sized and range from 1 to 18mm in length. Most are dome shaped and appear metallic or have multiple colors. Most species have wings but there's a lot of variation in development and flight ability, some are even flightless. 

Note: I'm so sad I only got this photo and because of that, I could only identify this individual down to family. I do know it's likely a flea beetle. But, I think he's a good example of that metallic sheen these beetles can have.

Note: These guys are my favorite beetle although that tends to change quite frequently! They're called tortoise beetles, golden (Charidotella sexpunctata) and small orange (Charidotella purpurata) respectively. I love to see them and you can see where they get their tortoise name in their shape and head covering. Also, very metallic looking in a different way than the flea beetles.

   The diet of this family is herbivorous as adults while larvae are more varied. Some eat seeds while others eat leaves. Some eat roots while others feed on leaf litter, making them detritivores. Others feed on sap while others still feed on plant parts or bark. Seeing how robust this family is it only makes sense that their larvae would be varied depending on the species! 

   I didn't find much specifically on their habitat but I'm sure it's because there are so many species included in this family so there's a lot of variation. 

  Note: The last photo I have to share is of an Eastern spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). I didn't know what it was at first, maybe a lady beetle? But it felt too elongated for that despite the spots. Come to find out it was one of these guys! He lacks the sheen that we saw above but I think he's still quite pretty in his own way.

      These beetles in particular are native to North America but can be a major agricultural pest! They're also found throughout southern Canada, the continental United States, and the central highlands of Mexico. Their larvae feed on the roots while adults cause damage by eating the flowers, leaves, stems, and fruits of the plant. As if that weren't bad enough, they can also spread diseases such as bacterial wilt and mosaic virus.

   There you have it: leaf beetles! I am a sucker for beetles in general and have more beetles posts planned out including weevils and the lady beetles because my photo collection continues to grow! I struggle picking a favorite but I really do enjoy seeing tortoise beetles and the metallic sheen of this family always makes me stop and want to photograph them.

   I'm probably going to make another post this month because there's just so much to write about! Until then, I hope you learned something and enjoyed reading. Until next time!

                             Yours,

                             Jade