''Cassida viridis'', common name green tortoise beetle, is a species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

in the

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 ...

family (

Chrysomelidae 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 ...

Description

''Cassida viridis'' can reach a length of . The body is unusually flat and oval-shaped. Thorax and elytra are green, without the markings characterizing other Cassida species. Punctuation on the elytra is entirely uniform. Both the legs and the rather short, threadlike antennae are brown. The underside is black. These extremely mimetic beetles can be encountered from April to October. Usually they stay on their food plants, which mainly include various mints (''

Mentha aquatica ''Mentha aquatica'' (water mint; syn. ''Mentha hirsuta'' Huds.Euro+Med Plantbase Project''Mentha aquatica'') is a perennial flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It grows in moist places and is native to much of Europe, northwest Africa ...

'', ''

Mentha arvensis ''Mentha arvensis'', the corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to ...

'', ''

Mentha longifolia ''Mentha longifolia'' (also known as horse mint, fillymint or St. John's horsemint; syn. ''M. spicata'' var. ''longifolia'' L., ''M. sylvestris'' L., ''M. tomentosa'' D'Urv, ''M. incana'' Willd.) is a species in the genus ''Mentha'' (mint) nati ...

'', '' Mentha rotundifolia'', ''

Mentha suaveolens ''Mentha suaveolens'', the apple mint, pineapple mint, woolly mint or round-leafed mint (synonyms ''M. rotundifolia'', ''Mentha macrostachya'', ''Mentha insularis''), is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is native to southern and weste ...

'', '' Mentha verticillata''), but also other plants of family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

('' Galeopsis grandiflora'', ''

Galeopsis speciosa ''Galeopsis speciosa'', the large-flowered hemp-nettle or Edmonton hempnettle, is a species of annual herbaceous plants in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to northern + central Europe and Siberia, and has become a widespread introduced weed ...

'', ''

Galeopsis tetrahit ''Galeopsis tetrahit'', the common hemp-nettle or brittlestem hempnettle, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe and northwestern Asia. It is a herbaceous annual plant growing to 1 m tall; it is a pioneer species and t ...

'', ''

Galeopsis pubescens ''Galeopsis pubescens'', also known as the hairy and downy hempnettle, is a herbaceous annual plant species in the family Lamiaceae, that can be found growing in various European countries. Taxonomy ''Galeopsis pubescens'' was for the first ...

'', ''

Melissa officinalis Lemon balm (''Melissa officinalis'') is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family and native to south-central Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, Iran, and Central Asia, but now naturalised elsewhere. It grows to a maximum height of . The l ...

'', ''

Salvia glutinosa ''Salvia glutinosa'', the glutinous sage, sticky sage, Jupiter's sage, or Jupiter's distaff, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the family Lamiaceae. Description ''Salvia glutinosa'' grows to approximately tall.Pignatti S. - Flora d' ...

'', ''

Salvia officinalis ''Salvia officinalis'', the common sage or just sage, is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the Mediterranean region, thoug ...

'', ''

Salvia pratensis ''Salvia pratensis'', the meadow clary or meadow sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The Latin specific epithet ''pratensis'' means "of meadows", referring to its ...

'', ''

Stachys palustris ''Stachys palustris'', commonly known as marsh woundwort, clown's woundwort, clown's heal-all, marsh hedgenettle, or hedge-nettle,Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004) ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Roya ...

'', ''

Stachys recta ''Stachys recta'', commonly known as stiff hedgenettle or perennial yellow-woundwort, is herbaceous perennial plant of the family Lamiaceae. Etymology The generic epithet is derived from the Greek word σταχυς (''stachys''), meaning "an ear ...

'' and ''

Stachys sylvatica ''Stachys sylvatica'', commonly known as hedge woundwort, whitespot, or sometimes as hedge nettle, is a perennial herbaceous plant growing to tall in woodland and unmanaged grassland. In temperate zones of the northern hemisphere it flowers in ...

''). The larvae are very spiny. For protection against enemies and parasites, they usually bear their excrements on two spines on the upper side.

Distribution

This species can be found in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, in the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

, and in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. It has recently been discovered to have been introduced into southern Ontario, Canada, as early as 1974.''Cassida Viridis'' (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a Palaearctic leaf beetle newly recorded from North America, by Stephen A. Marshall and Steven M. Paiero. The Canadian Entomologist, in press.

Habit

They mainly inhabit low vegetation in open areas, such as meadows or shores.

References

*
Synopsis of the described Coleoptera of the World

External links

Nature Spot
Cassidinae Beetles of Europe Beetles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cassidinae-stub