Crioceris asparagi

Ge­o­graphic Range

Crio­ceris as­paragi is na­tive to both Eu­rope and north­ern Asia, with the ex­cep­tion of China. It is an in­tro­duced species in North Amer­ica, and is par­tic­u­larly wide­spread in south­ern Canada. It is also an agri­cul­tural pest in Hawaii. (LeSage, et al., 2008; White, 1983)

Habi­tat

Crio­ceris as­paragi, the com­mon as­para­gus bee­tle, lives on cul­ti­vated and feral as­para­gus, in agri­cul­tural fields and grass­lands. In the win­ter, these bee­tles are found in piles of woody de­bris and refuse, under small rocks, in piles of de­cay­ing as­para­gus tops, and in the loos­ened bark of trees and fence posts. (Ku­bisz, et al., 2012; LeSage, et al., 2008)

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Crio­ceris as­paragi has an ob­long shape. It is typ­i­cally 6 to 7 mm long, and is bluish-green with a red tho­rax marked with green. The prono­tum is red and the ely­tra are yel­low with a su­ture and three spots on each side. The su­tural stripe and spots are con­nected and the spots may vary in size. The ely­tra are also punc­tured repet­i­tively in rows. Like all Crio­ceri­nae (leaf feed­ing bee­tles), it has thick­set, eleven-jointed an­ten­nae that are in­serted at the front of the eyes and are widely sep­a­rated. Front coxae are con­i­cal, con­tigu­ous, and dis­tinc­tive. Ad­di­tion­ally, this sub­fam­ily of the chrysomelids has a pro­tho­rax which is nar­rower than the ely­tra at their base and there is typ­i­cally a strong mid­dle con­stric­tion. Tarsal claws are sim­ple and broadly spread out from the base.

Eggs are elon­gate, con­i­cal, and large rel­a­tive to adult body size. They are grey or brown in color. The lar­vae of this species range from dark grey to olive green and have both black legs and black heads. (Ar­nett, 1993; Blatch­ley, 1910; Cap­in­era, 1976; Downie and Ar­nett, 1996; Jaques, 1951; Klass, 2012; Ku­bisz, et al., 2012)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes alike
  • Range length
    6 to 7 mm
    0.24 to 0.28 in

De­vel­op­ment

Dur­ing the win­ter, the com­mon as­para­gus bee­tle hi­ber­nates as an adult. It emerges and lays eggs when as­para­gus plants begin to shoot in the spring. Lar­vae hatch any­where from 3 to 12 days later and im­me­di­ately feed on young as­para­gus. They cling to the plant with tu­ber­cles and anal pro­legs. There is a two to three week pe­riod of lar­val de­vel­op­ment with four in­stars. The final in­star falls from the plant to the soil, and forms a pupa in a round earthen cell. In 5 to 8 days, the pupa trans­forms into an adult bee­tle. Cli­mate de­ter­mines how many gen­er­a­tions (2 to 3) occur an­nu­ally be­cause the tim­ing of egg hatch­ing and lar­val de­vel­op­ment are heav­ily tem­per­a­ture de­pen­dent and will fluc­tu­ate, tak­ing longer dur­ing colder sea­sons and tak­ing less time when it is rel­a­tively warm in a re­gion. (Chit­ten­den, 1917; Klass, 2012; LeSage, et al., 2008)

Re­pro­duc­tion

The mat­ing sys­tem of Crio­ceris as­paragi is typ­i­cal of leaf feed­ing bee­tles. Chrysomel­i­dae are known for rel­a­tively long mat­ing as­so­ci­a­tions dur­ing which males en­gage in such courtship dis­plays as rid­ing on the backs of fe­males. Males do not court fe­males prior to cop­u­la­tion but en­gage in "cop­u­la­tory court­ing" and "post-cop­u­la­tory court­ing." Mate guard­ing is typ­i­cal of this fam­ily. In re­sponse, chrysomelid fe­males will often ex­hibit avoid­ance be­hav­iors such as mov­ing their ab­domens away from male gen­i­talia or kick­ing males. Cryp­tic fe­male choice within Chrysomel­i­dae, where fe­males mate with mul­ti­ple males and re­tain the eggs of the male who they phe­no­typ­i­cally pre­fer, is an in­ter­est­ing fea­ture of this fam­ily. Fe­males also con­trol the abil­ity of the male to fer­til­ize. Fe­males may have a sper­math­e­cal mus­cle that de­ter­mines the suc­cess of sperm fer­til­iza­tion, and they may be able to emit semen post-cop­u­la­tion. (Chit­ten­den, 1917; LeSage, et al., 2008)

Crio­ceris as­paragi breeds in late April or early May after emerg­ing from win­ter hi­ber­na­tion and feed­ing for a few days. Shortly after breed­ing comes ovipo­si­tion. Eggs are de­posited on leaves or spears as a sin­gle egg or in a group. Mul­ti­ple eggs are laid in a row along the plant, and are se­cured by a dark green or brown ad­he­sive that is se­creted by the fe­male. (Chit­ten­den, 1917; LeSage, et al., 2008)

  • Breeding interval
    Crioceris asparagi breeds continuously throughout the spring.
  • Breeding season
    Breeding season is late April or early May.

Fe­males pro­vide enough nu­tri­ents in the egg to allow early de­vel­op­ment. Ad­di­tion­ally, fe­males se­crete a very strong ad­he­sive that keeps eggs firmly se­cured to the as­para­gus plants. This ad­he­sive pro­tects the eggs from ad­verse weather con­di­tions, in­creas­ing the like­li­hood the eggs will sur­vive. C. as­paragi pro­vides no other parental in­volve­ment. (LeSage, et al., 2008; Voigt and Gorb, 2010)

  • Parental Investment
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is avail­able about the lifes­pan of C. as­paragi, but de­vel­op­ment from egg to an adult gen­er­ally takes 22 to 41 days. Adults live for an ex­tended pe­riod after that, with the final gen­er­a­tion over­win­ter­ing and emerg­ing again in the spring. (Chit­ten­den, 1917; Klass, 2012; LeSage, et al., 2008)

Be­hav­ior

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion avail­able on this topic, but it is known that C. as­paragi is a mo­bile in­sect that is mainly ac­tive dur­ing the day. It is par­tic­u­larly ac­tive when dodg­ing preda­tors, run­ning up and down the as­para­gus plant. It will even fake death in the event of an at­tack by a preda­tor. It can fly, but does not do so often. (LeSage, et al., 2008)

Home Range

Crio­ceris as­paragi likely re­mains close to areas of its host plant. (LeSage, et al., 2008)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Chrysomelids rely on acu­ity of vi­sion and chem­i­cal per­cep­tions to rec­og­nize char­ac­ter­is­tics of their spe­cific host-plants. The mat­ing be­hav­ior of C. as­paragi, which is com­mon for most Chrysomel­i­dae, re­lies heav­ily on tac­tile and vi­sual cues. Males ride on the back of fe­males, while fe­males ex­hibit such be­hav­iors as kick­ing the males and mov­ing their ab­domen away in avoid­ance. (LeSage, et al., 2008; Mitchell, 1988)

Food Habits

Crio­ceris as­paragi feeds on as­para­gus dur­ing its lar­val and adult stages. Lar­vae eat the spears of as­para­gus as they grow dur­ing spring. In North Amer­ica, it feeds ex­clu­sively on As­para­gus of­fic­i­nalis, but in Eu­rope and Asia it feeds on sev­eral dif­fer­ent as­para­gus species. (White, 1983)

  • Plant Foods
  • leaves
  • roots and tubers

Pre­da­tion

Birds are sig­nif­i­cant preda­tors of Crio­ceris as­paragi, in­clud­ing ducks, chick­ens, and North Amer­i­can birds in­clud­ing house spar­rows and east­ern king­birds. A few species of coc­cinel­lid bee­tles, Coleomegilla mac­u­lata and Hip­po­damia con­ver­gens prey on lar­vae and adult stages. Large cara­bid bee­tles also prey on C. as­paragi, in­clud­ing Poe­cilus lu­cub­landus, Pteros­tichus mela­narius, Harpalus penn­syl­van­i­cus, and Harpalus er­rati­cus. A melyrid bee­tle, Col­lops quadri­mac­u­la­tus has been known to feed on eggs and lar­vae of C. as­paragi. Ad­di­tion­ally, Pen­tato­mi­dae such as Podisus ma­c­uliven­tris and Stiretrus an­chor­ago are known preda­tors of the as­para­gus bee­tle lar­vae out­side of Canada. A damsel bug, Nabis ru­fus­cu­lus, and an as­sas­sin bug, Sinea di­adema, have both also been ob­served prey­ing on lar­vae. The vespid wasp, Polistes fus­ca­tus, dam­selfly, Is­chnura posi­tum, and lacewing, Chrysopa oc­u­lata, are all preda­tors of the lar­vae as well. (Cap­in­era, 1976; LeSage, et al., 2008)

C. as­paragi will dodge preda­tors by es­cap­ing to an­other part of the as­para­gus plant. At lower lev­els of preda­tory per­sis­tence, it will move to the op­po­site side of the stem, but when more highly threat­ened will fake death or run to a more dis­tant lo­ca­tion on the plant. The black and yel­low-white col­oration which is typ­i­cal of Crio­ceris as­paragi mimic those of a sting­ing in­sect and may deter preda­tors; how­ever, C. as­paragi lacks the stripes of sting­ing in­sects and the strength of this de­fense is ques­tion­able. C. as­paragi is less adapted to avoid­ing avian preda­tors than C. duodec­im­punc­tata, a closely re­lated as­para­gus bee­tle, be­cause it lacks the red-black col­oration and stridu­la­tion which are used suc­cess­fully by C. duodec­im­punc­tata to ward off birds. Rarely does C. as­paragi uti­lize flight or stridu­la­tion to de­fend against preda­tors. (Cap­in­era, 1976; LeSage, et al., 2008)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Crio­ceris as­paragi is monophagous in North Amer­ica on its host plant, As­para­gus of­fic­i­nalis, but oligophagous in other re­gions. These bee­tles serve as food to avian preda­tors and nu­mer­ous in­sects. They are host to a hy­menopteran par­a­sitoid known as Tetrastichus as­paragi, which pierces the eggs of C. as­paragi and oviposits its own eggs. The par­a­sitized eggs of C. as­paragi hatch and de­velop nor­mally through the lar­val in­stars until it drops to the ground to pu­pate. De­vel­op­ment stops there as the par­a­sitic wasp has eaten the en­tire larva by this point. The level of par­a­sitism on C. as­paragi by C. as­paragi can be as high as 70%. The ich­neu­monid wasp Lemoph­a­gus crio­cer­i­tor par­a­sitizes C. as­paragi in Canada and cooler lat­i­tudes. The ta­chinid fly Myio­pharus in­fer­nalis is a known, but un­com­mon, par­a­site. Im­pu­den­tia crio­ceris is a fun­gus that is found on C. as­paragi. (LeSage, et al., 2008)

Species Used as Host
  • As­para­gus of­fic­i­nalis
Com­men­sal/Par­a­sitic Species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There are no known pos­i­tive ef­fects of Crio­ceris as­paragi on hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Since Crio­ceris as­pargi feeds ex­clu­sively on as­para­gus, it can have a sig­nif­i­cant ef­fect on the as­para­gus mar­ket. It can re­duce the as­para­gus har­vest, as well as de­crease the mar­ket value when eggs or lar­vae are found on the plants. Wash­ing­ton, Michi­gan, and Illi­nois pro­duce the most as­para­gus in the United States and are es­pe­cially vul­ner­a­ble to eco­nomic loss via as­para­gus dam­age. (Wold-Burk­ness, et al., 2006)

  • Negative Impacts
  • crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Crio­ceris as­paragi has no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus.

Con­trib­u­tors

Rachael Gin­gerich (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan Bi­o­log­i­cal Sta­tion, An­gela Miner (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff, Brian Scholtens (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan Bi­o­log­i­cal Sta­tion.

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

aposematic

having coloration that serves a protective function for the animal, usually used to refer to animals with colors that warn predators of their toxicity. For example: animals with bright red or yellow coloration are often toxic or distasteful.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diapause

a period of time when growth or development is suspended in insects and other invertebrates, it can usually only be ended the appropriate environmental stimulus.

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

folivore

an animal that mainly eats leaves.

herbivore

An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

heterothermic

having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature.

hibernation

the state that some animals enter during winter in which normal physiological processes are significantly reduced, thus lowering the animal's energy requirements. The act or condition of passing winter in a torpid or resting state, typically involving the abandonment of homoiothermy in mammals.

holarctic

a distribution that more or less circles the Arctic, so occurring in both the Nearctic and Palearctic biogeographic regions.

World Map

Found in northern North America and northern Europe or Asia.

internal fertilization

fertilization takes place within the female's body

introduced

referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

metamorphosis

A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oceanic islands

islands that are not part of continental shelf areas, they are not, and have never been, connected to a continental land mass, most typically these are volcanic islands.

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

polygynandrous

the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

suburban

living in residential areas on the outskirts of large cities or towns.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

Ar­nett, R. 1993. Amer­i­can In­sects: A Hand­book of the In­sects of Amer­ica North of Mex­ico. Gainesville, Florida: The Sand­hill Crane Press.

Blatch­ley, W. 1910. Cat­a­logue of the coleoptera of in­di­ana. In­di­anapo­lis, In­di­ana: The Na­ture Pub­lish­ing Com­pany.

Cap­in­era, J. 1976. As­para­gus bee­tle de­fense be­hav­ior: adap­ta­tions for sur­vival in dis­pers­ing and non-dis­pers­ing species.. An­nals of the En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Amer­ica, 69: "269–272".

Chit­ten­den, F. 1917. "The as­para­gus bee­tles and their con­trol" (On-line pdf). Ac­cessed Au­gust 02, 2012 at http://​books.​google.​com/​.

Dick­in­son, J. 1997. Mul­ti­ple mat­ing, sperm com­pe­ti­tion, and cryp­tic fe­male choice in the leaf bee­tles. Pp. 164-183 in J Choe, B Crespi, eds. The Evo­lu­tion of mat­ing sys­tems in in­sects and arach­nids. Cam­bridge, United King­dom: The Press Syn­di­cate of the Uni­ver­sity of Cam­bridge.

Downie, N., R. Ar­nett. 1996. The Bee­tles of North­east­ern North Amer­ica. Gainesville, Florida: The Sand­hill Crane Press.

ITIS, 2012. "Crio­ceris as­paragi" (On-line). ITIS Re­port. Ac­cessed Au­gust 02, 2012 at http://​www.​itis.​gov/​servlet/​SingleRpt/​SingleRpt?​search_​topic=TSN&​search_​value=719888&​print_​version=PRT&​source=to_​print.

Jaques, H. 1951. How to Know the Bee­tles. United States of Amer­ica: WM. C. Brown com­pany Pub­lish­ers.

Klass, C. 2012. "As­para­gus bee­tles" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 02, 2012 at http://​entomology.​cornell.​edu/​cals/​entomology/​extension/​idl/​upload/​Asparagus-Beetles.​pdf.

Ku­bisz, D., L. Ka­j­toch, M. Mazur, V. Rizun. 2012. Mol­e­c­u­lar bar­cod­ing for cen­tral-east­ern Eu­ro­pean Crio­ceris leaf-bee­tles (Coleoptera: Chrysomel­i­dae). Cen­tral Eu­ro­pean Jour­nal of Bi­ol­ogy, 7: 69-76.

LeSage, L., E. Dobes­berger, C. Majka. 2008. In­tro­duced leaf bee­tles of the mar­itime provinces, 6: the com­mon as­para­gus bee­tle, Crio­ceris as­paragi (Lin­naeus), and the twelve-spot­ted as­para­gus bee­tle, Crio­ceris duodec­im­punc­tata (Lin­naeus) (Coleoptera: Chrysomel­i­dae). Pro­ceed­ings of the En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Wash­ing­ton, 110: 602-621.

Mitchell, B. 1988. Adult leaf bee­tles as mod­els for ex­plor­ing the chem­i­cal basis of host-plant recog­ni­tion. In­sect Phys­i­ol­ogy, 34: 213-225.

Voigt, D., S. Gorb. 2010. Egg at­tach­ment of the as­para­gus bee­tle Crio­ceris as­paragi to the crys­talline waxy sur­face of As­para­gus of­fic­i­nalis. Pro­ceed­ings of the Royal So­ci­ety B-Bi­o­log­i­cal Sci­ences, 277/1683: 895-903.

White, R. 1983. A Field Guide to the Bee­tles. United States of Amer­ica: Houghton Mif­flin Com­pany.

Wold-Burk­ness, S., P. Bolin, W. Hutchi­son. 2006. Early-sea­son phe­nol­ogy and tem­po­ral dy­nam­ics of the com­mon as­para­gus bee­tle, Crio­ceris as­paragi (Coleoptera: Chrysomel­i­dae), in south­ern Min­nesota. The Great Lakes En­to­mol­o­gist, 39: 72-79.