Scarlet lily beetle
The scarlet lily beetle is a small beetle with shiny bright red wing cases and a black head, legs and belly. It loves lilies so much that it munches their leaves, buds and flowers. Gardeners who grow lilies keep a close eye out for it.
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Fun facts
When it is scared, it plays dead. It folds up its legs and drops to the ground with its black belly up, so it is hard to see.
It can squeak by rubbing two parts of its body together. The sound may startle a hungry bird.
Its larvae cover themselves with their own sticky brown poo. It works like a shield against the sun and enemies.
One female can lay up to 450 eggs in a single season.
People sometimes mix it up with a ladybird without spots, but it is slimmer.
Most asked questions about Scarlet lily beetle
?What does the scarlet lily beetle eat?
Lilies and their relatives. Both the beetles and their larvae chew the leaves, buds and flowers.
?Is the scarlet lily beetle dangerous?
No, it is harmless to people. It is only a problem for lily plants in the garden.
?How big is a scarlet lily beetle?
It is about 6 to 9 millimetres long, a bit smaller than your little fingernail.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lilioceris lilii
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America
- Also known as
- Red lily beetle, Lily leaf beetle
Where the facts come from
- Scarlet lily beetle (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 Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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