Psylliodes luridipennis
| Psylliodes luridipennis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Superfamily: | Chrysomeloidea |
| Family: | Chrysomelidae |
| Genus: | Psylliodes |
| Species: | P. luridipennis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Psylliodes luridipennis Kutschera, 1864 |
|
 Psylliodes luridipennisPhotos on ARKive, including larvae, pupae and adults. |
Psylliodes luridipennis, commonly known as the Lundy cabbage flea beetle or the bronze Lundy cabbage flea beetle, is a species of flea beetle endemic to the island of Lundy, where it lives and feeds upon the endemic Lundy cabbage (Coincya wrightii). Along with the true weevil Ceutorhynchus contractus var. pallipes and an undescribed race of flea beetle Psylliodes napi, it is known only from the Lundy cabbage. The species was first recorded by Thomas Vernon Wollaston in the 1840s, and was named by the Austrian entomologist Franz Kutschera in 1864.
Adult Lundy cabbage flea beetle measure around 3 millimetres (0.12 in) in length. They have brassy-green heads and bodies, with reddish-brown elytra. The adults feed upon the leaves of the Lundy cabbage, while the larvae mine into the plants to feed. The species is threatened by fluctuating numbers of Lundy cabbages, particularly due to invasive common rhododendrons (Rhododendron ponticum).
The species was first collected by Thomas Vernon Wollaston, who visited Lundy in 1844 and 1845. He collected specimens of 153 species of beetle, including a specimen of the species that later became known as P. luridipennis.Charles Owen Waterhouse listed the species in volume 2 of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine as "Psylliodes 6 sp. —?", and it was formally described and named by Austrian entomologist Franz Kutschera in the journal Wiener Entomologische Monatschrift in 1864.
The ancestors of the modern P. luridipennis population would have been unable to survive on Lundy during the ice age. As such, the species must either be a relict species (a species once more widespread), a species which is not unique to Lundy with other undiscovered populations, or the result of comparatively recent speciation on or near Lundy. One climactic and geological study suggests "that the ancestors of Lundy cabbage and its beetles may have had the opportunity to colonise Lundy across land during a few hundred years around 10,800 years ago or may subsequently have been aided by [now gone] 'stepping stone' land to the north east" of the island.
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