Clay-colored Leaf Beetle (Anomoea sp.)

CENTRAL FLORIDA CRITTER OF THE DAY: Clay-colored Leaf Beetle (Anomoea sp. possibly laticlavia)

Order Coleoptera – Beetles
Suborder Polyphaga – Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles
No Taxon Series Cucujiformia
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea – Long-horned and Leaf Beetles
Family Chrysomelidae – Leaf Beetles
Subfamily Cryptocephalinae – Case-bearing Leaf Beetles
Tribe Clytrini
Subtribe Clytrina

(could also possibly be A. nitidicollis crassicornis)

Feeds on a variety of forbs and shrubs: Lespedeza; Honey Locust, Gleditsia tricanthos; Willow, Salix; Oak, Quercus; Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana; Ragweed, Ambrosia.

larvae are myrmecophiles having an association with ants of the genus Formica.

Learn: https://bugguide.net/node/view/10195

Larva are connected with ants` nests. (leb.daba.lv/36-m1.pdf )

“The first of the three main study insects, Anomoea laticlavia (Forster), is a large (6-8 mm) yellow and black beetle (Chrysomelidae, Clytrinae), which consumes material from both immature inflorescences and young vegetative tissue. This beetle often feeds in one area of a raceme for several hours, creating a pit where many immature flowers are destroyed. Amorpha fruticosa L. (Fabaceae, false indigo) is the only other local plant on which I have observed A. laticlavia, but Dillon and Dillon (1961) report its presence on several other species, including Lespedeza spp. (Fabaceae, bush clover), Ambrosia spp.
(Asteraceae, ragweed), Ceanothus americanus L. (Rhamnaceae, Jersey tea), Gledistia triacanthos L. (Caesalpiniaceae, honey locust), and Salix spp. (Salicaceae, willow).”

(source:  Lewis, Cassandra Kasun. “The effects of habitat fragmentation on Amorpha canescens, a prairie forb, and its associated herbivores.” CHAPTER II MATERIALS AND METHODS page 7
MS (Master of Science) thesis, University of Iowa, 1999.
https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.hqqpsj7e

Shown on Florida Native Plant:  SOUTHERN BAYBERRY; WAX MYRTLE (Morella cerifera)

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