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Species Lema trivittata - Three-lined Lema Beetle

Three-lined Potato Beetle - Lema trivittata Three-lined Potato Beetle - Lema trivittata Three-lined Lema Beetle? - Lema trivittata beetle, yellow with black stripes - Lema trivittata Lema trivittata - male - female Three-lined Lima Beetle - Lema trivittata - male - female Disonycha sp. ? - Lema trivittata Lema? - Lema trivittata
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 Criocerinae
Tribe Lemini
Genus Lema
No Taxon (striped species)
Species trivittata (Three-lined Lema Beetle)
Other Common Names
Three-lined Potato Beetle
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
used to be treated as a color form of L. daturaphila (trilineata auct.); experiments proved the two forms do not hybridize
Explanation of Names
Lema trivittata Say 1824
trivittata = 'three-striped'
Size
5.1-7.3 mm
Identification
Adults very similar to L. daturaphila, may be discriminated as follows (White & Day 1979):
lateral black vitta covering 2½ intervals at most (more in daturaphila);
(following characters of +/- gradual nature)
tibiae usually yellow for more than half of their length (nearly always dark to more than 1/2 in daturaphila);
femora often dark apically (rarely so in daturaphila)
sternal pieces often broadly black (sometimes narrowly black in daturaphila)

The eggs are said to have blackish tips (those of daturaphila are dark yellow throughout)
Range
widely dist. (QC-ON), (MA-WA to FL-CA) / Mex. (1)
Food
Solanaceae, most records from potato (Solanum tuberosum)(2)
Print References
White R.E., Day W.H. (1979) Taxonomy and biology of Lema trivittata Say, a valid species with notes on L. trilineata (Oliv.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Entomological News 90(5): 209-217.
Works Cited
1.Catalog of Leaf Beetles of America North of Mexico
Ed Riley, Shawn Clark, and Terry Seeno. 2003. Coleopterists Society.
2.Host plants of leaf beetle species occurring in the United States and Canada
Clark et al. 2004. Coleopterists Society, Special Publication no. 2, 476 pp.