I have a bug eating my silver birch leaves, what is it?
By Mashugh
gloucestershire,
United Kingdom 
I have green irridescent beetles munching on the leaves of my silver birch trees. I have never seen them before, we have had the trees for about 3 - 4 years in the garden. The look very similar to vine weevles, but are metallic, almost lime green in colour. Any ideas?
Thanks for your replies. I don't think it is a shield bug. These beetles are long and thin and have a metallic sheen. They don't appear to be on any of my other plants.
12 May, 2009
Answers
It doesn't sound like shield bugs as they aren't iridescent and they only suck sap, causing no noticeable damage. Rose chafer maybe?
13 May, 2009
They sound like leaf weevils which are as you say light green in colour and have a longer body than vine weevils. They may not cause severe damage and if your tree is very tall it would be difficult to spray with insecticide anyway.
13 May, 2009
Previous question
« the ground is hard with not much soil so it needs to be quite a hardy hedge
Could they be green shield bugs? Have a look on the RHS web site.
13 May, 2009