''Zygogramma conjuncta'' is a species of beetle belonging to the family

Zygogramma ''Zygogramma'' is a large genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Chrysomelinae, which includes approximately 100 species. 13 species occur north of Mexico. Adults and larvae are herbivorous on various host plants. '' Zygogramma exclamationis'' is ...

Description

''Z. conjuncta'' is a small

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 ...

with a brown

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 ea ...

and yellow

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) 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 (sometimes alterna ...

marked with elongated brown stripes. The species ''Z. conjuncta'' contains two subspecies, ''Zygogramma conjuncta conjuncta'' (Rogers, 1856) and ''Zygogramma conjuncta pallida'' (Bland, 1864).

Distribution and Habitat

''Z. conjuncta'' is native to North America. Adult beetles are associated generally with plants of the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

) including ''

Ambrosia artemisiifolia ''Ambrosia artemisiifolia'', with the common names common ragweed, annual ragweed, and low ragweed, is a species of the genus '' Ambrosia'' native to regions of the Americas. Taxonomy The species name, ''artemisiifolia'', is given because the le ...

'', ''

Flourensia cernua ''Flourensia cernua'' is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the English common names American tarwort and tarbush and the Spanish common names ''hojasé'', ''hojasén'', and ''hoja ancha''. It is native to the Chihuahuan D ...

'', and ''

Helianthus annuus The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as b ...

'' (common sunflower). They have also been associated with '' Brassica campestris'' (field mustard), ''

Descurainia sophia ''Descurainia sophia'' is a member of the family Brassicaceae. Common names include flixweed, herb-Sophia and tansy mustard. It reproduces by seeds. It is a dominant weed in dark brown prairie and black prairie soils of southern Alberta. Its s ...

'' (tansy mustard), and ''

Atriplex ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''. The genus is quite variable and w ...

'', though not as a food source.

References

Chrysomelinae Beetles described in 1856 Beetles of North America {{Chrysomelinae-stub