I saw such a shiny colourful beetle on my Lavender bushes that I just had to try to journal him.
It turned out to be a non-native species first found in 1963 in Cheshire. Then three more were discovered in 1994 in Surrey. They quickly spread first in London then becoming common widespread across all counties in the U.K.
Despite its Latin name, Chrysolina americana, it actually originaters from the mediterranean, not America. I wonder if climate change aided its colonisation of the U.K. or it was just its transport in plants across the North Sea channel…
I also wondered why beetles are shiny and whether it is to conceal them from predators or to look attractive as a mate. Apparently this researcher wanted to find out too.
