Broom seed beetle
The broom seed beetle is a tiny dark grey beetle, only about two millimetres long. Its babies grow up inside the seed pods of a bushy plant called broom. People use it to help stop that plant from spreading too much.
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Fun facts
The mother lays about ten eggs on a broom seed pod.
The baby burrows straight from its egg into the pod and eats the seeds inside.
When the pod dries and pops open, the new grown-up beetles climb out.
In the United States people let it loose on purpose so that Scotch broom makes fewer seeds.
Most asked questions about Broom seed beetle
?How big is the broom seed beetle?
About two millimetres long, smaller than a grain of rice.
?Why do people release broom seed beetles?
Scotch broom is a weed in some countries. The beetle's babies eat its seeds, so fewer new plants grow.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Bruchidius villosus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Scotch broom bruchid
Where the facts come from
- Bruchidius villosus (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 Udo Schmidt. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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