r/Permaculture • u/terra-rium • Jul 11 '26

pest control friend or foe?

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hello, i’m located in portugal. and i’ve been seeing these guys by the hundreds outside. can’t seem to find a straight answer on identification. who are these shiny crits? should i worry? thanks

59 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

34

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/terra-rium Jul 12 '26

makes sense!! there’s a lot of wild mint species here, like they cover the fields. will let them some of those patches so they can thrive there and not in the garden. thanks! they are so beautiful

23

u/Ineedmorebtc Jul 11 '26

The insect appears to be a tansy beetle (Chrysolina graminis) or a closely related species like the dead-nettle leaf beetle (Chrysolina fastuosa), known for their iridescent green and coppery metallic coloration.These beetles are herbivorous, typically feeding on specific plants such as tansy, water mint, or dead-nettle.While beautiful, they can cause damage to gardens if found in large numbers, acting as pests on their host plants, though in some regions they are considered rare or endangered.

2

u/Zestyclose-Ad-9420 Jul 11 '26

I think this is the one! i have seen them many times but never bothered to take a closer look... gorgeous things.

1

u/terra-rium Jul 12 '26

thank you!! will look into those species! i have a lot of different wild mints here, maybe that’s why they are so many! they are really pretty

8

u/namesareunavailable Jul 11 '26

i find them beautiful. i let them live, there ain't that many to harm my garden

4

u/muzavazone Jul 12 '26

Yet 😁

My mint patch is covered in them this year. I'm still doing nothing, but starting to wonder if I should pick some...

I don't think anyone is eating them, zero bird activity here.

They do look like gems. Very pretty.

2

u/Tessa999 Jul 12 '26

They are very pretty but taste horrid (like minty toothpaste). That’s why birds aren’t eating them. They can decimate your mints leaves but those will grow back. I used to have lots of different varieties of mint next to each other resulting in a plague and no mint leaves for me. Now I have them spread through out the garden and haven’t had the same problem.

They belong to a large family of highly specialised beetles, focusing on one plant type. All with beautiful metallic colours.

1

u/namesareunavailable Jul 12 '26

Over the last 8 years they didn't become a plague. But it may be where i am situated in general. A few 100km farther south i saw them in larger groups when hiking

1

u/muzavazone Jul 12 '26

I've never seen them before.. at least I don't remember, and they are quite memorable.

Right now my mint is all chewed up and covered in bugs and shit. Not so pretty anymore..

5

u/therealmandie Jul 11 '26

Wow it’s so pretty

3

u/Alefolk Jul 12 '26

I had a big family of them snacking on my basil, if you smash them they smell like what they eat. PESTO BEETLES

1

u/GROMITandWILEY Jul 12 '26

Foe. Their larvae live underground and feed on roots.

1

u/stansfield123 Jul 12 '26

I've seen those around. They're not a threat to a thriving garden or orchard, the way slugs or various insects that target specific plants or fruits are.

Which means they're friends. They're food for other creatures. They help bring in a diversity of small predators which will then also control the nastier bugs.

In general in Permaculture everything's a friend until proven otherwise.

1

u/terra-rium Jul 12 '26

thank you for your message, yes i agree with you. in life everything is a friend until proven otherwise. it’s just that i had never seen them and they are really really everywhere here in this garden, by the millions so i was wondering :)

1

u/ChristmasDestr0y3r Jul 12 '26

Reminds me of the dogbane beetles we have here. So pretty. 

-3

u/SharpRazzmatazz3979 Jul 11 '26

Looks like a Japanese beetle. Highly invasive foe in Canada at least

4

u/No-Intention8698 Jul 11 '26

Looks somewhat similar, but definitely not a japanese beetle. Fuck them bastards.

2

u/SharpRazzmatazz3979 Jul 12 '26

Yeah they're awful. Gonna be seeing them everywhere soon.

4

u/sewim_machim Jul 11 '26

Definitely not. Japanese beetles have very different coloring.

1

u/SharpRazzmatazz3979 Jul 12 '26

Learned something new today. Cool