Parthenium beetle
The Parthenium beetle is a small leaf beetle with yellow wing covers and long brown stripes. People use it as a helper: it eats a weed called parthenium that causes problems for farmers. Every beetle's stripes look a little different.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
In one study of 478 beetles, scientists found 29 different stripe patterns.
Its yellow to orange eggs hatch in 4 to 5 days.
The larvae dig into the soil, as deep as 15 centimetres, to turn into pupae.
Its whole life takes just over 100 days.
Most asked questions about Parthenium beetle
?Why do people use the Parthenium beetle?
It eats parthenium, a weed that spreads where it is not wanted, so people use it to control the weed.
?Where does the Parthenium beetle live?
It comes from Mexico and has been brought to India and Australia.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Calligrapha bicolorata
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- North America, Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Mexican beetle
Where the facts come from
- Calligrapha bicolorata (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 Santosh Namby chandran. CC BY 2.5, 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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