Lytta vesicatoria

TaxID: 404363

Basic Information

Lytta vesicatoria

Blister Beetle, Spanish Fly, Spanish fly

Lytta vesicatoria, also known as the Spanish fly, is an aposematic emerald-green beetle in the blister beetle family (Meloidae). It is distributed across Eurasia. The species and others in its family were used in traditional apothecary preparations as "Cantharides". The insect is the source of the terpenoid cantharidin, a toxic blistering agent once used as an exfoliating agent, anti-rheumatic drug and an aphrodisiac. The substance has also found culinary use in some blends of the North African spice mix ras el hanout. Its various supposed benefits have been responsible for accidental poisonings.

from Wikipedia

Taxonomic Information

Metazoa

Arthropoda

Insecta

Coleoptera

Meloidae

Lytta

vesicatoria

unclassified

Photos (5 photos)

Lytta vesicatoria
c
(c) SteveM4560@BY
Lytta vesicatoria
c
(c) SteveM4560@BY
Lytta vesicatoria
c
(c) Mirko Tomasi@BY-NC
Lytta vesicatoria
c
(c) enbodenumer@BY-NC-SA
Lytta vesicatoria
c
(c) unknown@CC0

Morphological Features

No morphological description available.

Host Plants (0 host plants)

Data sources: EPPO Global Database and relevant literature.

No host plants available.

Quarantine Status (2 records)

Data sources: IPPC website and national quarantine websites; verified by human review.

Country Status Year Added
Paraguay Quarantine pests —
United States of America Quarantine pests —

Distribution (37 countries)

Data Sources: EPPO Global Database and GBIF.

37
Present
0
Absent
0
Unknown/Other
Country Status State
Albania Present —
Andorra Present —
Austria Present —
Bulgaria Present —
Belarus Present —
Switzerland Present —
Czechia Present —
Germany Present —
Denmark Present —
Spain Present —
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Distribution Map (Latitude and longitude coordinates sourced from GBIF.)

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Genomes (0 records)

Data source: NCBI.

No genome records available.

Transcriptomes (0 records)

Data source: NCBI.

No transcriptome records available.

DNA Barcodes (0 records)

View all

Data source: BOLD.

No DNA barcode records available.

Literature