Red-headed systena
The red-headed systena is a small black beetle with a red head. It is a flea beetle, so it has big, strong back legs for jumping. When it is scared, it springs away like a flea.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its babies, called larvae, are off-white and 5 to 10 millimetres long.
It spends the winter as an egg.
Out in nature it has one family a year, but in plant nurseries it can have up to four.
It loves hydrangeas, and it chews many little holes in their leaves.
Scientists are studying it to find ways to protect plants without spraying so much poison.
Most asked questions about Red-headed systena
?What does the red-headed systena eat?
Leaves of many plants, such as hydrangeas, roses, cranberries and ironweed.
?Why is it called a flea beetle?
Because it has strong back legs and jumps away like a flea.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Systena frontalis
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Red-headed flea beetle, Cranberry flea beetle
Where the facts come from
- Systena frontalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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