A
"leaf beetle" is a type of small insect that eats leaves. It is called a
"leaf beetle" because it is beetles that like to feed on leaves from plants or trees.
Full definition
Jamison, a biologist now with the Colorado Plateau Research Station at Northern Arizona University, has long tracked the
tamarisk leaf beetle through the Southwest.
Strategy that unleashed cedar
leaf beetles on Tamarisk trees may have to be revised as the chompers spread to threaten endangered birds
Cephaloleichnites strongi, as the new species has been dubbed, represents the earliest known rolled -
leaf beetle species, hundreds of which still exist today.
The findings, published in the 14 July issue of Science, help push back the time when a group of beetles
called leaf beetles evolved their great diversity and demonstrate just how faithful some species can be to their favorite foods.
Rolled -
leaf beetles today still munch on ginger plants, as shown by the characteristic damage on this leaf from Panama.
This image shows squeezing the contents of
leaf beetle larvae onto giraffe bone to prepare arrow poison.
«This phenomenon have been known in a few lineages of the
related leaf beetles, but this is the first case for the long - horned beetles.»
Add
the leaf beetle to the mix, and the rules of the game change.
The interactions among plants from different populations, the multiple stressors in Western riparian ecosystems, and the introduction of
the leaf beetle present a complex model.