---
title: "Alder Leaf Beetle"
description: "Agelastica alni — Insects & spiders. Agelastica alni, the alder leaf beetle, is a species of leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae) in the genus Agelastica."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/alder-leaf-beetle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Alder Leaf Beetle

> Agelastica alni — Insects & spiders. Agelastica alni, the alder leaf beetle, is a species of leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae) in the genus Agelastica.

- Scientific name: *Agelastica alni*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest)
- iNaturalist observations: 28849
- Wikidata: [Q882629](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q882629)
- iNaturalist taxon: [210933](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/210933)

## Names

- en: Alder Leaf Beetle
- de: Erlenblattkäfer
- fr: Galéruque de l'Aulne
- nl: Elzenhaantje
- pl: Hurmak olchowiec

## Countries with the most observations

GB (9285), FI (2644), DE (2345), RU (2078), NL (1482), FR (1315), DK (842), BE (803), SE (633), LT (629), PL (518), LU (211)

## Summary

Agelastica alni, the alder leaf beetle, is a species of leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae) in the genus Agelastica. Agelastica alni is distributed in Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, north-eastern Kazakhstan, and in the 19th century was introduced to the United States.
The beetle and the beetle's larval host is the grey or speckled alder (Alnus incana) and to a lesser extent black alder (Alnus glutinosa), but it will also be found on hazel, birch or hornbeam if there is a shortage of food. It causes large holes and gaps in leaves from the end of April onwards, which are produced by the larvae in the first two stages, but the…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agelastica_alni

## Photo

![Alder Leaf Beetle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/alder-leaf-beetle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Naomi Cappuccino · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/357200607

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/alder-leaf-beetle?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).