Red poplar leaf beetle
The red poplar leaf beetle is round like a ladybird, with bright red wing cases and a black head. But it has no spots, just a little black mark at the top. It lives on poplars and willows and munches their young leaves.
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Fun facts
When it is in danger, it oozes a red, smelly liquid made from the medicine-like stuff in willow leaves.
Its larvae are white or light grey with black dots.
It spends the winter under bark and fallen leaves and wakes up around April.
Lots of these beetles can eat so many leaves that young poplar trees stop growing well.
Males fight other males with their jaws to win a female.
Most asked questions about Red poplar leaf beetle
?Is the red poplar leaf beetle a ladybird?
No. It looks a bit like a red ladybird, but it is a leaf beetle with no spots that eats leaves.
?What does the red poplar leaf beetle eat?
Young leaves of poplars and willows.
?How big is the red poplar leaf beetle?
About 9 to 13 millimetres long. Females are a little bigger.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Chrysomela populi
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Poplar leaf beetle
Where the facts come from
- Chrysomela populi (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 Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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