Dimpled armor and swollen bellies: Meeting the black-punctured leaf beetle

The black-punctured leaf beetle (Galeruca tanaceti) is a dull, midnight-black insect measuring up to 11 millimeters long. First named by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, this beetle gets its name from its matte body covered in tiny, dense dimples. Many of these beetles have small, unusable wings and prefer strolling along the ground or climbing low plants to munch on tansy, yarrow, and daisies. When a female is ready to lay her eggs, her belly swells so dramatically that her wing covers only stretch halfway down her body! I encountered pregnant females walking clumsily on several occasions on the outskirts of Barkarby, Sweden.

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