''Chaetocnema pulicaria'', also known as the corn flea beetle and clover flea beetle, is a species of
flea beetle from
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 ...
family, found in
Texas,
USA and
Canada.
Description
The species is black in color, with orange legs and
antennae.
Their size is quite small, about long.
Species lifecycle
The females lay
eggs in
soil, which has plants growing nearby. The eggs hatch in 7 to 14 days into
larvae. While in their larval stage, their small, worm-like bodies are white. The larvae feed especially on plants'
roots, causing serious damage. Then, they transform into
pupae, and a week later, into adults.
Pest
The species is known for causing damage to crops. The damaged plants include
sorghum
''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...
,
soybeans,
sweet corn
Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive muta ...
, small grains, and some
vegetables.
Pest
/ref> They feed on both sides of a leaf (upper and lower parts), including epidermis
The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...
and the veins. They also transmit Stewart's wilt
Stewart's wilt is a serious bacterial disease of corn caused by the bacterium '' Pantoea stewartii''. This bacterium affects plants, particularly types of maize such as sweet, flint, dent, flour, and popcorn. The disease is also known as bacter ...
; by removing the leaf tissue from the plant, they open a wound which allows the disease to begin spreading from plant to plant. The disease organism is ''Pantoea stewartii
''Pantoea stewartii'' is a species of plant pathogenic bacteria that causes Stewart's wilt of corn, as well as jackfruit-bronzing disease, bacterial leaf wilt of sugarcane, and leaf blight in rice. ''P. stewartii'' is a gram-negative bacterium i ...
''.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5066627
Alticini
Beetles described in 1880
Beetles of North America
Taxa named by Frederick Ernst Melsheimer