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An evening curiosity.

This is a flea beetle in genus Psylliodes & as it was on dried brassica, best guess is P chrysocephala, the cabbage-stem flea beetle (🇩🇪 Großer Rapserdfloh).

They're usually dark green, but can come in brown too (var anglica), albeit mostly in the UK & very rarely in DE in iNat.

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A small beetle seen side on on a horizontal, light brown, dead plant stem. The beetle is shiny all over, with a lighter brown shade on the eyltra, darker on the pronutum, then a red-brown head with black compound eyes. The pronutum is very finely and lightly dimpled, while the elytra have stronger dimples under the shiny surface. The front and mid-legs are mid-brown with fine white hairs, while the hind legs have large femora which are darker brown, and also have fine white hairs. The antennae are out of focus. The same beetle, again seen from the side, but slightly turned away from the camera at the head end. The same general features are seen, along with some details in one of the antennae, which have many V-shaped segments and some fine white hairs. The underside and end of the abdomen is seen, also covered in many fine white hairs. The sinuous curve of the lower edge of the elytra is clear, coming down from the pronutum, then rising up again over the chunky femora, before descending to the tip of the abdomen. A view from a slightly elevated perspective, albeit still side on. The difference between the dark brown-green pronutum and the paler brown elytra is well see. Finally, a view from behind and above, showing how the elytra taper to the hairy end of the abdomen, which sticks out slightly beyond the wing covers. The pale brown colour of the wings under the elytra is clearly seen, apart from the region near the back of the pronutum, where there is a darker V-shape. The dark, heavy femora are seen well from behind, as are the thick multi-segmented antennae.

#photography #macrophotography #bugoftheday #heidelberg #insectsofmastodon #backgardenentomology

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Commenti (2)

Addendum: the beetle was quite small, perhaps only 3-4mm in size, which fits Psylliodes chrysocephala.

It was also quite patient with the photographer, so each of the four images above are macro focus stacks of two or three individual pictures.

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@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social Could it have traveled in someone's luggage from the UK to your insect paradise?

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