Cryptocephalus on Water-Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper)

An area for archived forum posts
Post Reply
SteveMcBill
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:15 am
Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
Contact:

Cryptocephalus on Water-Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper)

Post by SteveMcBill »

Cryptocephalus on Water-Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper):

Dear All,

Yesterday (12th July 09) I found a good number of a bright green metallic Cryptocephalus sp. feeding on Water-pepper (Persicaria hydropiper) in Sandymoor, Runcorn, Cheshire. There were larvae present too.

Does anyone know of a Crytpocephalus sp. which feeds on P.hydropiper ?? I do not seem to be able to track one down !

Cheers

Steve :)
DonSten
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:50 am

Re: Cryptocephalus on Water-Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper)

Post by DonSten »

Hi Steve

There are only two Cryptocephalus spp that are metallic green that I know of - C.aurelous and C.hypochaeridis and neither is typically found on plants in the family Polygonaceae, but Asteraceae and Rosaceae.
Did you take a specimen?

cheers
Don
SteveMcBill
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:15 am
Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
Contact:

Re: Cryptocephalus on Water-Pepper (Persicaria hydropiper)

Post by SteveMcBill »

Hi Don,

Sadly I was merely out for a casual stroll and didn't have anything with me to put a specimen in. So, I am afraid the answer to whether I took a specimen is 'No'. Had I done I would have attempted to key it out myself before asking. Just wondered if there was something i was missing as I could not find any association with Polygonacae.

Thanks for the reply mate - appreciated. I will have to go back to the site next year and see if there are any around.

Steve
Post Reply