About Chrysolina coerulans (Scriba, 1791)
Chrysolina coerulans (Scriba, 1791) has soft-bodied, rounded, black larvae. Adult beetles of this species measure 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) long, and have black legs and antennae. Their head is smooth and lacks a longitudinal groove, and their thorax is parallel-sided. The pronotal disk, located at the top of the first thoracic segment, has fine punctures. Their elytra, hardened forewings, are smooth and distinctly metallic or iridescent blue. This species should not be confused with Chrysolina herbacea, the green mint beetle: C. herbacea is emerald green, slightly larger, with a body length of 7–11 mm. Both C. herbacea and Chrysolina graminis, the tansy beetle, have a mix of fine and coarse punctures on the pronotal disk. Like other species in the Chrysolina genus, C. coerulans stores cardiac glycosides, including xylose, in its defensive glands. The distribution of C. coerulans covers mid and eastern Europe, including Cyprus, Hungary, France, Italy, Macedonia, and Turkey. Latvia was added to its recorded range in 2009, followed by Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Ukraine in 2011. A 2009 source also notes the species' range extends into Central Asia, covering the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the southern Urals, western China, and northern and eastern India. This beetle inhabits damp meadows and riversides in both lowlands and mountains, found at elevations up to 1,650 m (5,410 ft) above sea level.
