Dogbane beetle
The dogbane beetle is a small shiny beetle that glitters blue-green and copper, like a jewel. It eats only one kind of plant, called dogbane, which is poisonous to most animals. The beetle is not bothered by the poison at all.
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Fun facts
It stores the plant's poison in its own body and lets it out when something attacks it.
Dogbane leaks a sticky white juice when it is bitten, so the beetle first cuts a little ditch to drain it before eating.
After a meal it wipes its sticky mouth by walking backwards and dragging it across the leaf.
Its shiny colours warn hungry birds to stay away.
The monarch butterfly has the same body trick that lets it eat poisonous plants safely.
Most asked questions about Dogbane beetle
?What does the dogbane beetle eat?
Only dogbane plants. The adults eat the leaves and the larvae eat the roots.
?Is the dogbane beetle poisonous?
It keeps poison from the dogbane plant in its body to protect itself, so do not eat it. Just look and enjoy its colours.
?How big is the dogbane beetle?
About 8 to 11 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Chrysochus auratus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Chrysochus auratus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by D. Gordon E. Robertson. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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