For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Milkweed Leaf Beetle Platycorynus dejeani Chrysomelidae

This is a leaf eating beetle of the Chrysomelidae family and has to be one of the prettiest we have.
It is small, maybe ½ an inch in body length and the difference in color between males and females can clearly be seen in this mating pair.
Besides adults eating leaves and flowers, larvae bore into stems and roots.
In one of my reference books it holds a dubious record……
….during research, it was found that the female of this species mated with various males a record of 60 times.!! LOL!! I wonder who was doing the counting? :)

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