Europe and temperate Asia.
Fine-art photographic collection
Chrysolina fastuosa
A beetle whose rainbow shell is paired with a chemical defence borrowed from its food plant.
About this species
Dead-nettle Leaf Beetle
Chrysolina fastuosa(Scopoli, 1763)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
The dead-nettle leaf beetle combines brilliant structural colour with chemical protection. Both larvae and adults feed on mint-family plants and can retain plant-derived defensive compounds.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Chrysomelidae · Chrysolina
Accepted species; English common name follows established UK usage. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe and temperate AsiaBroad documented range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Hedgerows, woodland edges and disturbed ground containing dead-nettles and related plants.
Adults and larvae are active on host plants in spring and summer.
Feeds on dead-nettles and other Lamiaceae.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The shifting green, blue, gold and magenta bands are produced by microscopic cuticle structure, not by a palette of coloured pigments.
Females place eggs inside flower calyces, and the newly hatched larvae begin by eating the developing seeds and calyx tissue.
Adults manufacture heart-active cardenolide toxins in defensive glands even though their mint-family host plants do not supply those compounds.