Subject: Found it! “Crioceris bicruciata” shining leaf (asparagus) beetle from Cyprus
Location: Nicosia (Lefkoşa), Cyprus
February 24, 2014 11:54 am
Well, it took a while but I kept searching and stumbled upon the Crioceris family (?) which has 9 members which all seem to have the wing netting, and one by one I eliminated them including the common Asparagus Beetle which has the same markings but different coloring, till I finally came to one that looks just like the one I photographed last February in Cyprus (the timing is part of why I am sending it so others might find it too).
It seems to be Crioceris bicruciata, which by all I can tell is not that common, but it has the pattern, coloring (including leg color) that the one I photographed does. For once, I did not stumble upon a bug everyone else in the world has (insert a “smiley” without it being an obnoxious yellow thing here).
I am feeling pretty proud at the moment (another “smiley”).
Signature: Curious Girl
Dear Curious Girl,
Thank you so much for informing us of the identity of this Leaf Beetle from Cyprus. We are sorry we did not have the time to identify it when you first sent the photo several days ago. Both the image on BioLib as well as the image on the Wroclaw University of Poland website are good matches to your individual.