Dead-nettle Leaf Beetle
Lat. “Fasta fastuosa“ species
of family
“Leaf Beetles“ 1 species
Chrysolina fastuosa, also known as the dead-nettle leaf beetle, is a species of beetle from a family of Chrysomelidae found in Europe, Caucasus and northern Turkey.
Description
The species has a length ranging from 5.1–6.9 millimetres (0.20–0.27 in). F. fastuosa has a gold shine that transitions to a green or violet-blue longitudinal stripe near the shoulder band of the elytra as well as near the suture. Occasionally, specimens of F. fastuosa may be completely green or black in colour.
Ecology
Adults and larvae of F. fastuosa feed on various plants in the family Lamiaceae, including hemp-nettle (Galeopsis) and dead-nettle (Lamium). It is also known from common nettle (Urtica dioica), which is in family Urticaceae. Adults and larvae graze on leaves, while larvae may also be found in fruiting calyxes.
Larvae are parasitised by the tachinid fly Macquartia grisea.
Taxonomy
F. fastuosa was formerly classified in the genus Chrysolina, as the only member of the monotypic subgenus Fastuolina proposed by Warchałowski in 1991. Some authors consider the name “Fastuolina” to be an unavailable name under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, such as due to failure to comply with Article 13.1 as it was not accompanied by required text (or pointer to such text) that would differentiate the taxon. Hence later the new name Fasta was proposed for the subgenus by Petitpierre and Alonso-Zarazaga in 2019.
In 2023, a phylogenetic analysis based on DNA extracted from museum specimens recovered “C.” fastuosa in a sister group relationship with the genus Oreina. These authors therefore raised the taxonomic rank of Fasta from subgenus to genus to reflect the uniqueness, resulting in the new combination Fasta fastuosa (Scopoli, 1763) for the species.
External links
Media related to Fasta at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Fasta at Wikispecies
