Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula)

I was sat at the picnic table on the Organic Farm where I work and this little chap seemed to fall out of the tree, I took some photos of it but could not be 100% sure that it is the Tansy Beetle, it would appear often The Mint Leaf Beetle is mistakenly identified as the Tansy Beetle. If you can ID this for me I would be most grateful.
-- See comments with this image: It's Gastrophysa viridula --

comments (2)

WildFlower

Lion

Hi Bridget,
Considering the location of your geotag and according to the information available on the distribution of both species, I would rather assume it is a mint beetle (Chrysolina herbacea), because it is difficult to discriminate between them based on morphology.

Here are a few links with more information to consider
http://www.coleoptera.org.uk/chrysomelidae/chrysolina-graminis
http://www.coleoptera.org.uk/chrysomelidae/chrysolina-herbacea
http://www.arkive.org/tansy-beetle/chrysolina-graminis/

Nice photos of other species in the genus
http://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds6/insectschrysolinabeetles.htm Posted 12 years ago
1. Bridget Charity Rendall
  
  Grizzly Bear
  
  Many thanks for the info Wildflower. Another person has told me the Mint Beetle has smooth blue green armour, whereas the Tansy Beetle has real green and mottled texture, I have a photo that shows this more clearly but will certainly take a look at the links. Posted 12 years ago