Species Galerucella nymphaeae - Water-lily Beetle

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

Water-lily Beetle - Galerucella nymphaeae

Yellowish beetle - Galerucella nymphaeae

Beetle on Nymphaea - Galerucella nymphaeae

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 Galerucinae (Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles)

Tribe Galerucini

No Taxon (Section Atysites)

Genus Galerucella (Water-lily Beetle)

Species nymphaeae (Water-lily Beetle)

Explanation of Names

Galerucella nymphaeae (Linnaeus 1758)

Range

e. NA to PNW and AK (AK‒NF to TX‒FL) - Map (1)(2), Holarctic

Food

principal foodplants: Nuphar spp., Polygonum spp.; other hosts: Trapa natans, Brasenia schreberi; beetles have been raised in the lab on Lythrum salicaria

Life Cycle

Remarks

"Of the above-mentioned plants, Brasenia, Nuphar, and Polygonum are normal hosts. Populations feeding on Myrica may eventually be proven to belong to a separate species. In fact, beetles historically recognized as G. nymphaeae may well represent several sibling species, with true G. nymphaeae not occurring in North America at all. Whatever the case, beetles are apparently sometimes so numerous that they leave their normal hosts and may temporarily feed on other plants. Even so, some of the recorded associations were probably purely incidental." (3)

Works Cited

1.	Catalog of Leaf Beetles of America North of Mexico Ed Riley, Shawn Clark, and Terry Seeno. 2003. Coleopterists Society.

2.	Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

3.	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 Jim McClarin on 18 October, 2006 - 5:14pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 26 May, 2024 - 9:37am

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