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Species Chrysolina hyperici - St. Johnswort Beetle

Beetle on Hypericum - Chrysolina hyperici St. Johns Wort Beetle - Chrysolina hyperici Small green beetle - Chrysolina hyperici hyperici or quadrigemina? - Chrysolina hyperici - male hyperici or quadrigemina? - Chrysolina hyperici - male St Johnswort beetle - Chrysolina hyperici St. Johnswort beetle - Chrysolina hyperici Chrysolina sp. - Chrysolina hyperici
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 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
Season
Adults in June and again in fall
Food
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.