| Cereal Leaf Beetles (Oulema melanopus-duftschmidi-rufocyanea (Linnaeus, 1758 - Redtenbacher, 1874 - Suffrian, 1847)) |
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Scientific name: Oulema melanopus-duftschmidi-rufocyanea (Linnaeus, 1758 - Redtenbacher, 1874 - Suffrian, 1847) Common name: Cereal Leaf Beetles French name: Criocères des céréales, Lémas à pieds noirs. Order: Coleoptera Family: Chrysomelidae Wingspan : 3.5 to 5.5 mm. Biotope: Grasslands, cereal crops. I have read that Oulema melanopus is more abundant in closed wooded areas and Oulema duftschmidi is more abundant in open or semi-open areas. Geographic area: Europe, Asia, North Africa, North America. I found little information for Oulema rufocyanea. In France Oulema melanopus and Oulema duftschmidi coexist in all regions. As for Eurasia, I read that the distribution of Oulema melanopus extends more towards the north and that of Oulema duftschmidi extends more towards the east. Observation period : April to July. |
It is impossible to differentiate Oulema melanopus (Linnaeus, 1758), Oulema duftschmidi (Redtenbacher, 1874) and Oulema rufocyanea (Suffrian, 1847) without examination of the males' genitalia. The head and antennae are black. The elytra are a dark metallic blue-green and are marked with irregular streaks of large dots. The pronotum is smooth and orange-red in colour. It is slightly wider than long and noticeably less wide than the elytra. The orange legs end in black tarsi. I have read that Oulema rufocyanea has broader and more deeply punctuated elytra and antennal article 5 is just slightly longer than it is wide. Antennal article 5 of Oulema melanopus and Oulema duftschmidi is given as more than twice as long as it is wide. I have not been able to find confirmation of this by browsing the various photo galleries. Other species of the genus show different colours. |
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The habitus corresponds well to Oulema melanopus, Oulema duftschmidi and Oulema rufocyanea. Antennae article 5 is more than twice as long as it is wide and could eliminate Oulema rufocyanea by considering this criterion as reliable. |
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André Bon January 2025