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Southern Tamarisk Beetle
Diorhabda meridionalis
Diorhabda meridionalis is a species of leaf beetle known as the southern tamarisk beetle (SoTB) which feeds on tamarisk trees from Syria to western and southern Iran and southern Pakistan. The SoTB may have potential for use in North America as a biological pest control agent against saltcedar or tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), an invasive species in arid and semi-arid ecosystems (where it might be less accurately referred to along with its closely related sibling species as the 'saltcedar beetle', 'saltcedar leaf beetle', 'salt cedar leaf beetle', or 'tamarisk leaf beetle') (Tracy and Robbins 2009).
From the article Diorhabda meridionalis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
What it does
The life cycle of the SoTB has not been studied, but it is probably similar to that of the closely related northern tamarisk beetle, Diorhabda carinulata.
Wikipedia: “Life cycle”
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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Every page naming Diorhabda meridionalis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 1497542.