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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Cucujiformia » Longhorn and Leaf Beetles (Chrysomeloidea) » Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae) » Criocerinae » Lemini » Lema » striped species (Lema striped species) » Three-lined Lema Beetle (Lema trivittata)

Species Lema trivittata - Three-lined Lema Beetle

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Print References · Works Cited

Three-lined Potato Beetle - Lema trivittata

Three-lined Lema Beetle - Lema trivittata

Lema sp - Lema trivittata - male - female

Three lined Beetle - Lema trivittata - male

Three-lined Lima Beetle - Lema trivittata - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

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.

Contributed by Boris Büche on 27 April, 2007 - 5:58am
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, McClarinJ, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 6 June, 2016 - 5:09pm

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