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Photo#777046
NJ Gastrophysa polygoni: egg source? - Gastrophysa polygoni - female

NJ Gastrophysa polygoni: egg source? - Gastrophysa polygoni - Female
Highland Park, Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA
May 1, 2013
Size: 5.8 mm (5.4 mm to elytra)
While weeding the lawn, I ran into some cool insect eggs on the underside of a small Polygonum sp. (maybe P. aviculare; will let some of it grow & see) that flourishes (if I’m not careful) in the bare spots under a shade tree. I’d already pulled the plant & wasn’t about to attempt to replant the thing & nurture weed & eggs, esp with no particular reason to believe it would be particularly interesting, so I just took some shots & left it at that.

Under the same tree, I ran into a cool little beetle with a distended abdomen that protruded from beneath the elytra. So I took some pics of that too, & left it at that. Those were the only 2 things I photographed that day.

The beetle matches Gastrophysa polygoni. Nearest BugGuide records are in Mass, but ID seems consistent with the stated range (S. Canada & N. US, mostly E. of the Rockies).

Lo and behold, G. polygoni’s foodplant is Polygonum sp. And the eggs I photographed match images online of Gastrophysa ova. So I’m going to go out on a limb and upload them under G. polygoni. Comments, corrections or $0.02 welcome.

Images of this individual: tag all
NJ Gastrophysa polygoni: egg source? - Gastrophysa polygoni - female NJ Gastrophysa polygoni: egg source? - Gastrophysa polygoni - female NJ Gastrophysa polygoni: egg source? - Gastrophysa polygoni - female

G. polygoni indeed; the egg image placement seems justified
the critter must be on Europe's Five Most Conspicuous/Most Photographed Leaf Beetles... prove me wrong.
you should really keep that pesky P. aviculare in check.

 
luckily, I've got the beetles to help me
Actually, the P. aviculare is easy to pull. Matter of fact, I did too good a job -- had trouble finding any left when I wanted to confirm the ID!

Thanks much.

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