Common Pollen Beetle

Brassicogethes aeneus

Brassicogethes aeneus is a species of pollen beetle. Brassicogethes aeneus is an important pest of oilseed rape. It is not known whether it contributes to the pollination of the crop.
Brassicogethes aeneus (Fabricius,_1775) 2.5 mm long Nitidulidae Brassicogethes aeneus,France,Geotagged,Rape beetle,Spring

Appearance

Adults are about 2–3 mm long, 1–2 mm wide and black with a hint of metallic green. The larvae are up to 3 mm long and white with brown sclerotised plates.
meligethes on purple Brassicogethes aeneus,Common Pollen Beetle,Geotagged,Germany,Meligethes aeneus,Spring

Naming

Synonyms:
Meligethes rufimanus LeConte, 1857
Meligethes californicus Reitter, 1871
Meligethes moerens LeConte, 1868
Meligethes mutatus Harold, 1868
Meligethes ruficornis LeConte, 1859
Meligethes aeneus (Fabricius, 1775)
Meligethes dauricus Motschulsky, 1849
Rape pollen beetle - Brassicogethes aeneus Animalia,Arthropoda,Blossom beetle,Brassicogethes aeneus,Bulgaria,Coleoptera,Common Pollen Beetle,Cucujoidea,Europe,Geotagged,Insecta,Meligethes aeneus,Nitidulidae,Pollen beetle,Rape beetle,Sakar mountain,Sap beetle,Spring,Wildlife

Distribution

Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China)
North America
Rape beetle Blossom beetle - Meligethes aeneus Animalia,Arthropoda,Blossom beetle,Brassicogethes aeneus,Bulgaria,Coleoptera,Common Pollen Beetle,Europe,Geotagged,Historic territory Urvich,Insecta,Iskar river,Lozen mountain,Meligethes aeneus,Nitidulidae,Pollen beetle,Rape beetle,Sap beetle,Sofia,Spring

Food

The female beetle lays its eggs in the flower buds of the host-plant and the larvae develop within the flowers. Oviposition and feeding damage the buds of oilseed rape and similar Brassicas and may cause the flowers to drop. Both adults and larvae feed on the pollen and nectar in the flowers.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=835960
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderColeoptera
FamilyNitidulidae
GenusBrassicogethes
SpeciesBrassicogethes aeneus
Photographed in
Bulgaria
Germany
France
United Kingdom