Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Xanthogaleruca luteola - Elm Leaf Beetle

Downtown Prescott has lots of Elms - Xanthogaleruca luteola Unknown beetle - Xanthogaleruca luteola Elm leaf beetle - Xanthogaleruca luteola Trirhabda - Xanthogaleruca luteola Leaf beetle - Xanthogaleruca luteola beetle ID - Xanthogaleruca luteola Xanthogaleruca luteola? - Xanthogaleruca luteola Beetle ~1cm - Xanthogaleruca luteola
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Longhorn and Leaf Beetles)
Family Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)
Subfamily Galerucinae (Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles)
Tribe Galerucini
No Taxon (Section Atysites)
Genus Xanthogaleruca
Species luteola (Elm Leaf Beetle)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Pyrrhalta luteola
Explanation of Names
Xanthogaleruca luteola (Müller 1766)
luteola 'yellowish'
Size
6―8 mm
Range
Native to w. Palaearctic(1), adventive in our area (CA-FL-NS-BC)(2)(3)
Food
hosts: elms (Ulmus)(2)
Life Cycle
Overwinter as adults in sheltered dry places. Hibernation can begin in August; eggs are laid in late May or early June, larve begin to hatch in about a week and feed on the undersides of leaves for 2-3 weeks, then crawl down and pupate in bark crevices. There may be 1―2 generations with a partial 3rd generation per year. The first generation is the most injurious.(4)
Remarks
first detected in Baltimore, MD in the late 1830s(2)(3)
Considered a pest of elms(2)
See Also
Trirhabda: in Xanthogaleruca antennomere 3 is longer than or subequal to antennomere 4, shorter in Trirhabda(5)

In addition to the occipital spot, X. luteola usually has a spot just above the antennae, rarely present in Trirhabda
X. luteola is usually found near places where elm trees have been planted. Trirhabda spp. usually occur in less disturbed areas.
Works Cited
1.Borowiec L. (200_-2013) Chrysomelidae: The leaf beetles of Europe and the Mediterranean subregion (checklist and iconography)
2.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
3.Invasive species in California
4.Eastern Forest Insects
Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.
5.A Synopsis of the North American Galerucinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
John A. Wilcox. 1965. New York State Museum and Science Service.