Dead-nettle Leaf Beetle Lat. “Fasta fastuosa“
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 WarchaÅ‚owski 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
Ancestry Graph
Further Information
„Dead-nettle Leaf Beetle“ on wikipedia.org
„Dead-nettle Leaf Beetle“ on iNaturalist.org
Copyright
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Fasta fastuosa the free encyclopedia Wikipedia which is released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). On Wikipedia a list of authors is available.
„Seasons“
Maria experiences how the seasons change and with them the natural balance of her habitat. These changes are gradual and some might only recognise them when it is already too late.
