Smaragdina affinis

Smaragdina affinis is a species of short-horned leaf beetles belonging to the family Chrysomelidae, subfamily Cryptocephalinae.

Smaragdina affinis
Adult of Smaragdina affinis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Chrysomelidae
Subfamily:	Cryptocephalinae
Tribe:	Clytrini
Genus:	Smaragdina
Species:	S. affinis
Binomial name
Smaragdina affinis (Illiger, 1794)

Subspecies

• Smaragdina affinis affinis (Illiger, 1794)
• Smaragdina affinis manicata (Lacordaire, 1848) - in Spain^[1]

^[2][3]

Description

Smaragdina affinis, dorsal view

The adults are 3.5–4 millimetres (0.14–0.16 in) long. Head is shiny black. Elytrae are black, with bluish reflections. Pronotum is edged with orange-red or red-brown, while the disc is black. Pronotum shows a fine and sparse punctuation, with strong and dense punctuation on the elytrae. Tibia and tarsi are orange. Femurs are hardly darkened at the base.^[4]

Biology

Adults mainly feed on leaves of Corylus avellana, Quercus and Crataegus species, while larvae possibly feed in leaf litter.^[5]

Distribution

These leaf beetles are present in most of Europe.^[1][6]

Habitat

These leaf beetles are heat-loving. They can be found predominantly in thickets and forest edges, in the plane or on dry warm slopes, from about April to July.