or malachite beetle. How do I tell the difference?

I have never seen either but I may have killed one or the other!

I killed a beautiful red coloured beetle a couple of weeks ago thinking it
was a Lilly beetle because I know they are supposed to be around. I didn't
even know the malachite beetle existed until reading about them in the
garden paper today. The picture looed uncannily like the thing I killed a
couple of weeks ago. I remember thinking at the time, what a lovely looking
insect to be so destructive.

So, how can I tell the difference?

Please do not say habitat. I have what many may call an undisturbed meadow
of five acres ( cos I cannot be bothered to do anything with it!) at the
back of the garden. I am highly rural in location - but I had a pot of
lilies near where I saw this beetle. Never had lilies or Lilly beetles
before so I simply do not have a clue. Im not a garden expert.

Ive looked up a couple of pics on the internet but cant find anything in
detail enough to tell me what I have killed.

" notpastityet?" <confusedcom [at] btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:3aGdneusnM42PeTZRVnysw [at] bt.com...
> or malachite beetle. How do I tell the difference?
>
> I have never seen either but I may have killed one or the other!
>
> I killed a beautiful red coloured beetle a couple of weeks ago thinking it
> was a Lilly beetle because I know they are supposed to be around. I
> didn't
> even know the malachite beetle existed until reading about them in the
> garden paper today. The picture looed uncannily like the thing I killed a
> couple of weeks ago. I remember thinking at the time, what a lovely
> looking
> insect to be so destructive.
>
> So, how can I tell the difference?

You can look for pictures on the web using google.
If you google and set it to lok for images only and enter:
malachite beetle
or
lily beetle
you will see dozens of pictures of each.


>
> Please do not say habitat. I have what many may call an undisturbed
> meadow
> of five acres ( cos I cannot be bothered to do anything with it!) at the
> back of the garden. I am highly rural in location - but I had a pot of
> lilies near where I saw this beetle. Never had lilies or Lilly beetles
> before so I simply do not have a clue. Im not a garden expert.
>
> Ive looked up a couple of pics on the internet but cant find anything in
> detail enough to tell me what I have killed.
>
>

"Des Higgins" <dazzhiggins [at] hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Ruheg.9643$j7.306616 [at] news.indigo.ie...
>
> " notpastityet?" <confusedcom [at] btopenworld.com> wrote in message
> news:3aGdneusnM42PeTZRVnysw [at] bt.com...
> > or malachite beetle. How do I tell the difference?
> >

> >
> > So, how can I tell the difference?
>
> You can look for pictures on the web using google.
> If you google and set it to lok for images only and enter:
> malachite beetle
> or
> lily beetle
> you will see dozens of pictures of each.

I cannot find the dozens you claim. But if the pictures I have found are
anything to go by then I have killed a malachite beetle.

I do wish that gardening papers were less quick to get you looking for these
bloody pests and TELL you that there are other things you need to check
for.

I have just killed a rare bug. I hope he/she had brothers and sisters who I
didnt go looking for!

I should have had more sense my garden seems to be the last refuge for
assylum seeking bugs and wildlife of all kinds anyway. I wonder what else I
could be treading on/digging up/ destroying?

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

Pictures and further info here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/content/articles/2006/05/12/rar e_bug_survery_feature.shtml

Ade wrote:
> Pictures and further info here:
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/content/articles/2006/05/12/rar e_bug_survery_feature.shtml

Beautiful picture of lily beetle in yesterday's Independent Magazine
opposite Anna Pavord's page. (In the article, she mentioned slugs or
snails had unerringly bypassed her hundreds of native arums to go for
her single expensive Arum nigrum. Why, I wonder, had they done that?
Pure chance, or preference? Hats off to her for not using pellets, but
I'm afraid I might not have been so virtuous.)

--
Mike.

notpastityet? Wrote:
> or malachite beetle. How do I tell the difference?
>
> I have never seen either but I may have killed one or the other!
>
> I killed a beautiful red coloured beetle a couple of weeks ago thinking
> it
> was a Lilly beetle because I know they are supposed to be around. I
> didn't
> even know the malachite beetle existed until reading about them in the
> garden paper today. The picture looed uncannily like the thing I killed
> a
> couple of weeks ago. I remember thinking at the time, what a lovely
> looking
> insect to be so destructive.
>
> So, how can I tell the difference?
>
> Please do not say habitat. I have what many may call an undisturbed
> meadow
> of five acres ( cos I cannot be bothered to do anything with it!) at
> the
> back of the garden. I am highly rural in location - but I had a pot
> of
> lilies near where I saw this beetle. Never had lilies or Lilly
> beetles
> before so I simply do not have a clue. Im not a garden expert.
>
> Ive looked up a couple of pics on the internet but cant find anything
> in
> detail enough to tell me what I have killed.

Click on this link and it'll tell you all about the Red Lily beetle
http://tinyurl.com/ppvt8


--
Pest Effects

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0500/beetle.asp

http://www.buglife.org.uk/html/project_scarlet_Malachite_Bee tle.htm

Please note the differences in the beetles, namely the size, shape, in the
lily beetle the shape is slightly more rounded than the malachite beetle,
also seems the M. beetle has dark area on its back.
AFAIK the lily beetle only attacks lilies and usually there is what looks
like sticky Mess on the lily leaves, this being the young grubs.
The only means of ridding them is Provado ultimate bug killer as there are
no known natural predators in this country.
The Lily beetle can strip the leaves in 2 days leaving nice clean stems with
no flower buds left either.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/learning/research/project_pandd.asp#li ly_beetle

There is more about the lily beetle here well down page. It is classed a
recent pest slowly spreading north..


www.Buglife.org says this about the Malachite beetle
However the beetle is still very much in danger, since the habitat it
depends upon unspoilt wildflower meadows has disappeared from much of the
English countryside.
and its known habitat is limited thus
thanks to the enthusiastic public response, the survey has discovered five
new sites for the beetle double the existing number thereby helping to
ensure its future survival.This strikingly colourful beetle appears for only
four weeks during May and June the rest of the time its life is a mystery.
Known from only a handful of small sites in Essex and Hertfordshire, each
not much bigger than a tennis court, this once-widespread beetle is now a
protected species on the brink of extinction.

Hope this is of some assistance to you
regards
Cineman

" notpastityet?" <confusedcom [at] btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:3aGdneusnM42PeTZRVnysw [at] bt.com...
> or malachite beetle. How do I tell the difference?
>
> I have never seen either but I may have killed one or the other!
>
> I killed a beautiful red coloured beetle a couple of weeks ago thinking it
> was a Lilly beetle because I know they are supposed to be around. I
> didn't
> even know the malachite beetle existed until reading about them in the
> garden paper today. The picture looed uncannily like the thing I killed a
> couple of weeks ago. I remember thinking at the time, what a lovely
> looking
> insect to be so destructive.
>
> So, how can I tell the difference?
>
> Please do not say habitat. I have what many may call an undisturbed
> meadow
> of five acres ( cos I cannot be bothered to do anything with it!) at the
> back of the garden. I am highly rural in location - but I had a pot of
> lilies near where I saw this beetle. Never had lilies or Lilly beetles
> before so I simply do not have a clue. Im not a garden expert.
>
> Ive looked up a couple of pics on the internet but cant find anything in
> detail enough to tell me what I have killed.
>
>

"cineman" <oldwifey [at] midlands.dontwanadoo48.com> wrote in message
news:W4qeg.23610$8W1.3026 [at] fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0500/beetle.asp
>
> http://www.buglife.org.uk/html/project_scarlet_Malachite_Bee tle.htm
>
> Please note the differences in the beetles, namely the size, shape, in the
> lily beetle the shape is slightly more rounded than the malachite beetle,
> also seems the M. beetle has dark area on its back.
> AFAIK the lily beetle only attacks lilies and usually there is what looks
> like sticky Mess on the lily leaves, this being the young grubs.
> The only means of ridding them is Provado ultimate bug killer as there are
> no known natural predators in this country.
> The Lily beetle can strip the leaves in 2 days leaving nice clean stems
with
> no flower buds left either.
>
I am pretty sure now I killed a malachite beetle. I was out looking for
anything red because I thought all red beetles were Lilly beetles. I had
planted some lilies on the border of the garden by the meadow this year.

I do not have any evidence of a Lilly beetle having visited my lilies. The
beetle I killed had a black V strip between its head and body, hence I
suspect I got the wrong man ( or woman). That should teach me to go policing
my plants!

I d not know if the malachite beetle is established or known to be so in my
area. I haven't seen another since. For that matter I haven't seen any Lilly
beetles attacking my lilies either.

notpastityet? wrote:
> I d not know if the malachite beetle is established or known to be so in my
> area. I haven't seen another since. For that matter I haven't seen any Lilly
> beetles attacking my lilies either.

Yesterday while showing my pots around to a friend, the only lillys I
grow in a gorgeous silver and straw pot, we found a red beetle. Only
one for the first time this year (touch wood). I didn't think twice, I
grabbed a leaf from a colombine, got the beetle in it and squashed it.
Now, what is totally amazing to me is that I live in a suburb of a huge
city. I have many plants, pots and a back and a front gardens with a
variety of different flowers. The only time I ever see the lilly beetle
is on my single lilly pot. How do they know? How do they tell that in
this garden there is a lilly to eat?!

La Puce wrote:
[...]
> variety of different flowers. The only time I ever see the lilly beetle
> is on my single lilly pot. How do they know? How do they tell that in
> this garden there is a lilly to eat?!

Many insects are very sensitive to particular smells important to their
life cycles. Some species, I understand, can detect food or potential
mates at a range measurable in miles. It would, though, be very unusual
if yours was the only lily for miles around, so there's probably a
local population.

--
Mike.