Clay-Colored Leaf Beetle - Anomoea laticlavia - Town of Plymouth, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA June 8, 1999 Size: 3/8 in. long
Sometimes called the Leadplant Beetle (Anomoea laticlavia). Hundreds ate Leadplant (Amorpha canescens) blossoms. They cleaned off all the blossoms, leaving the leaves, and then left. Here in Door County, they only attack Queen-of-the-Prairie (Filipendula rubra). On June 18, 1999. I received this comment from Andrew H. Williams, Fellow in the Entomological Dept. UW-Madison: "This beetle is beige, with a dark elytral suture, about 3/8 in. long. It feeds on Leadplant flowers and leaves, essentially to the exclusion of all else, though this year I found some young adults feeding on the leaves of Round-Headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata). I think these simply had not yet found the local Leadplant, which was nearby."
Contributed by Janice Stiefel on 11 December, 2007 - 2:16pm Last updated 8 July, 2008 - 10:18pm |