''Donacia dentata'' 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 ...
s of the subfamily
Donaciinae
The Donaciinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae, characterised by distinctly long antennae. They are found in mainly the Northern Hemisphere, with some species found in the Southern Hemisphere.
Life cycle
Female Donacii ...
.
Ecology and habitats
Adult beetles feed on
leaves of the
Alisma and
Sagittaria sagittifolia plants. The beetles may also feed on
pollen (especially
Nuphar lutea
''Nuphar lutea'', the yellow water-lily, brandy-bottle, or spadderdock, is an aquatic plant of the family ''Nymphaeaceae'', native to northern temperate and some subtropical regions of Europe, northwest Africa, western Asia, North America, and ...
).
Pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...
e develop among the developing
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
s within the coastal land, in the roots of plants such as sagittaria and common species of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
Cyperaceae (''
Carex
''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...
'').
Larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e feed on leaves and roots of the sagittaria and the roots of different species of cyperaceae.
External links
BioImages: The Virtual Field-Guide (UK)Donacia dentata Hoppe, 1795 (a leaf beetle)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1315568
Donaciinae
Beetles described in 1795
Taxa named by David Heinrich Hoppe