Saint John's Wort Beetle

Description

Chrysolina hyperici, the Saint John's Wort Beetle is a species of beetles of the family Chrysomelidae. The species lays up to 2.000 eggs on the host plant during the fall. Larvae emerge in the spring. They spend the winter as adults or eggs. Originally distributed in Europa and Asia, it has been introduced in other places as biological control of Hypericum perforatum. Chrysolina is a large genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Chrysomelinae. Most species are distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa with a small number of species inhabiting North America (including introduced European ones) and introduced species in Australia. The species Chrysolina cerealis and C. graminis are protected in the United Kingdom. All species of Chrysolina are phytophagous, feeding on specific food plants, and some of them have been used for biological control of weeds. To control Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort), C. hyperici was successfully naturalized in Australia in the 1930s and several species, especially C. quadrigemina, were introduced to California in the late 1940s.