Colorado potato beetle	Status LU: established. 1st record:1936.
	Gromperekiewer(lek)	Status Eur.: established.
	Doryphore de la pomme de terre	RA: ISEIA: C3. Harmonia+: n/a.
	Kartoffelkäfer	Wikipedia: | Wikispecies:
	Coloradokever	Back to the list of invertebrates

Report the species

→ Report Leptinotarsa decemlineata to the National Museum of Natural History.

Brief description

Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, 1824 is a major pest of potato crops. It is approximately 10 millimetres long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each of its elytra. Native to America, it spread rapidly in potato crops across America and then Europe from 1859 onwards. The Colorado beetle has a strong association with plants in the family Solanaceae, particularly those of the genus Solanum e.g.: Solanum nigrum (black nightshade), Solanum melongena (eggplant or aubergine), Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade), Solanum tuberosum (potato),  Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and the genus Capsicum (pepper) (Wikipedia contributors 2020).

Status and distribution in Luxembourg

Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, 1824 was first reported on 23rd June 1936 in Steinsel-Müllendorf, then in Limpertsberg, Mamer and Neuhäuschen in the same year. In 1937 it was reported from Eischen, Finsterthal and Beyren. By 1938 the whole country was infested. The details of this invasion were published by Jos Massard (2000).

The distribution of the species is still widespread all over the country, but populations have sharply decreased, particularly due to the decline of potato production, e.g. from >17000 ha in 1939 to 800 in 1995 (Massard 2000: 212).

Only 14 occurrences of the species are documented in the mdata.mnhn.lu portal, ranging from 1968 to 2019 (MNHNL, iNaturalist & GBIF 2020).

Risk assessment

ISEIA protocol

C3 (3+1+1+1) (Ries et al. 2017: 68).

Harmonia+ protocol

Not assessed yet.

Worldwide distribution

GBIF 2020: https://www.gbif.org/species/1047536

Bibliography

• GBIF, 2020. Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, 1824 in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://www.gbif.org/species/1652212 [accessed 2020-02-09]
• Massard, J. A., 2000. Le Doryphore et le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (esquisse historique). Archives de l’Institut grand-ducal de Luxembourg, Section des sciences naturelles, physiques et mathématiques, NS 43: 175-217. (PDF 260 KB)
• MNHNL, iNaturalist & GBIF, 2020. Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, 1824 in MNHNL-mdata, online portal combining species observation from Recorder-Lux, iNaturalist and GBIF. National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg. URL: https://mdata.mnhn.lu [accessed 2020-04-09]
• Ries, C., A. Arendt, C. Braunert, S. Christian, A. Dohet, A. Frantz, G. Geimer, M. Hellers, J. A. Massard, X. Mestdagh, R. Proess, N. Schneider & M. Pfeiffenschneider, 2017. Environmental impact assessment and black, watch and alert list classification after the ISEIA Protocol of invertebrates in Luxembourg. Bull. Soc. Nat. luxemb. 119: 63-70. [PDF 360 KB]
• Wikipedia contributors, 2020. ‘Colorado potato beetle’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 February 2020, 17:50 UTC, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colorado_potato_beetle&oldid=940950432 [accessed 2020-02-09]