Galerucella calmariensis
species of leaf beetle
Galerucella calmariensis, sometimes Neogalerucella calmariensis, is a species of leaf beetle in the family Chrysomelidae. It is commonly known as the black-margined loosestrife beetle and is native to Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China) where both adults and larvae feed on purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). It has been introduced in North America as a biological control agent for purple loosestrife.
Description
The black-margined loosestrife beetle is cylindrical in shape, mid brown, three to six millimetres long and half that width. When seen from above it often has two blackish lateral lines down either side. The eggs are spherical, white and usually topped with frass. The larvae are yellow speckled with black and resemble small caterpillars.
Biology
Adults overwinter in leaf litter near purple loosestrife plants. They emerge in the spring and start to feed on the young growth. They cause damage to the leaves characterised by neat rounded shot holes between the veins.
“Galerucella calmariensis” enters the record as species of leaf beetle. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Galerucella, calmariensis and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1633940. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Galerucella calmariensis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.