Species Chrysolina hyperici - St. Johnswort Beetle

Classification · Explanation of Names · Size · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

Beetle on Hypericum - Chrysolina hyperici

St. Johns Wort Beetle - Chrysolina hyperici

There were many brown ones around- he stood out - Chrysolina hyperici

Klamath Weed Beetle? - Chrysolina hyperici

hyperici or quadrigemina? - Chrysolina hyperici - male

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 Chrysomelinae

Tribe Chrysomelini

Subtribe Doryphorina

Genus Chrysolina

No Taxon (subgenus Hypericia)

Species hyperici (St. Johnswort Beetle)

Explanation of Names

Chrysolina hyperici (Forster 1771)

Size

5-7 mm

Range

Native to w Palaearctic, introduced in ne NA & PNW - Map (1)

Season

Adults present in June and again in fall

Food

host: St. John's-wort

Life Cycle

Up to 2,000 reddish eggs laid singly or in small clusters on basal leaves of hostplant, mostly in fall; larvae hatch in spring; pupation occurs in the soil in late spring; adults emerge in June to feed, then enter the soil; they emerge again in fall and resume feeding; overwinters as an adult and egg

Remarks

Larvae feed during the night on shoot tips and basal and developing leaves; adults feed in clusters during the day on flower buds and terminal leaves

Introduced to control St. John's-wort, and to reduce the spread of native St. John's-wort disease (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides)

Adults are more tolerant of cooler/wetter summers than Ch. quadrigemina, whose larvae and adults are killed by May frosts, and whose adult dormancy is disrupted by summer rains.

Works Cited

1.	Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 30 April, 2006 - 11:44pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Mike Quinn, Aaron Schusteff, v belov
Last updated 8 October, 2021 - 6:17pm

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