''Colaspis crinicornis'' is a species of

leaf beetle The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

from North America. It primarily occurs in the Great Plains of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It was first described by the American entomologist

Charles Frederic August Schaeffer Charles Frederic August Schaeffer (12 June 1860 – 29 August 1934) was an American entomologist who specialized in beetles, particularly chrysomelids and weevils. He described 109 species in 91 genera and some species like ''Taphrocerus schaeffe ...

in 1933. Though it has not historically been considered a pest, population densities of the species have been increasing in

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

and

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

over the last decade in southeastern

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

. A study has found ''C. crinicornis'' to be

univoltine Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is most often applied to insects, and is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism. ...

in the same region, and that it

overwinters Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activi ...

in soil as larvae. It has also been found that diets of corn or soybean leaves do not affect the consumption, longevity or

fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...

of adult ''C. crinicornis''.

Subspecies

These two subspecies belong to the species ''Colaspis crinicornis'': * ''Colaspis crinicornis chittendeni''

Blake Blake is a surname which originated from Old English. Its derivation is uncertain; it could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a nickname for someone with pale hair or skin. Another theory, presum ...

, 1974^{i c g} * ''Colaspis crinicornis crinicornis'' Schaeffer, 1933^{i c g} Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net

Subspecies

References

Further reading