''Chrysolina cerealis'', the rainbow leaf beetle or Snowdon beetle, is a beetle belonging to the family

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

Subspecies

Subspecies within this genus include: * ''Chrysolina cerealis cerealis'' (Linnaeus, 1767) (Central and Western Europe) * ''Chrysolina cerealis cyaneoaurata'' (Motschulsky, 1860) (Siberia, Mongolia) * ''Chrysolina cerealis megerlei'' (Fabricius, 1801) (Central and South-Eastern Europe) * ''Chrysolina cerealis mixta'' (Küster, 1844) (Alps, Pyrenees) * ''Chrysolina cerealis rufolineata'' (Motschulsky, 1860) (Northern Caucasus, Crimea, Ukraine, European Russia) 2016 10 10 Chrysolina cerealis

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

n countries, from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

to northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and from

Ussuri The Ussuri ( ; ) or Wusuli ( ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China in the province of Heilongjiang. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and formi ...

in the east to

Snowdonia Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...

(

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

) in the west.Fauna Europaea
/ref> These

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

s can be found in forests, woodlands, meadows, wastelands and

montane grassland Montane grasslands and shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The biome includes high elevation grasslands and shrublands around the world. The term "montane" in the name of the biome refers to "high elevation", rather than t ...

s over 600m above sea level.

Description

''Chrysolina cerealis'' can reach a length of . Females are typically larger than males. Coloration of the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

and the

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

is quite variable, usually it is metallic green with three blue and red longitudinal stripes, with golden reflections (hence the common name). The subspecies ''Chrysolina cerealis mixta'' has metallic blue pronotum and elytra. The underparts are dark blue.

Biology

Adults can be found from April to September. This beetle lives on base-rich

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...

s and lays its

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

during June on

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

es such as ''

Agrostis capillaris ''Agrostis capillaris'', the common bent, colonial bent, or browntop, is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world. Colonial be ...

'' and ''

Festuca ovina ''Festuca ovina'', sheep's fescue or sheep fescue, is a species of grass. It is sometimes confused with hard fescue (''Festuca trachyphylla''). General description It is a perennial plant sometimes found in acidic ground, and in mountain pastur ...

'', although both larvae and adults mostly feed on the

wild thyme ''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is a low, usually prostrate subshrub formin ...

Thymus polytrichus ''Thymus praecox'' is a species of thyme. A common name is mother of thyme, but "creeping thyme" and "wild thyme" may be used where ''Thymus serpyllum'', which also shares these names, is not found. It is native to central, southern, and western ...

'',Ben McCarthy & Kate Van Den Ende (2006). "Snowdon Beetle (Chrysolina cerealis)". Snowdonia National Park Authority. preferring the flowers to the leaves.

In Wales

Within

, ''C. cerealis'' is found at only a few sites on the western flanks of

Snowdon Snowdon (), or (), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon i ...

, and perhaps in

Cwm Idwal Cwm Idwal is a cirque (or corrie) in the Glyderau range of mountains in northern Snowdonia, the national park in the mountainous region of North Wales. Its main interest is to hill walkers and rock climbers, but it is also of interest to geologi ...

in the neighbouring

Glyderau The Glyderau (a Welsh plural form, also known in English as the Glyders) are a mountain group in Snowdonia, North Wales. The name derives from the highest peaks in the range, Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. According to Sir Ifor Williams, the w ...

. The population is thought to be genetically distinct, and the species is classified as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

in the UK and protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Rainbow leaf beetle (''Chrysolina cerealis'')
UK Biodiversity Group - Tranche 2 Action Plans – Volume IV: Invertebrates - 1999 The species has not been found since 1980 in Cwm Idwal, and some reports consider the Snowdon population of about 1000 adults to be in "serious decline", while others say that there is no evidence of a decline, but that the species may always have been rare.

References

External links

Fotopage
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1308469 Chrysomelinae Beetles of Europe Beetles of Asia Beetles described in 1767 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus