Lagria villosa is a Tenebrionidae beetle of tropical and subtropical African origin which is invasive in South America.
The larva as well as the adult feed off a large variety of crops, among them sorghum, ananas, bananas, coffee, potatoes, corn and peach.
The first recorded specimen in Europe was found in Finland in 2020, in a box of table grapes shipped from Brazil.
Under controlled laboratory conditions, the symbionts defend the beetle's eggs from fungal infections while present on the egg surface during vertical transmission.The substance, lagriamide, is structurally similar to bistramides like bistramide A, which have similar defensive functions in marine tunicates.
"Bioecologia e efeitos tróficos sobre Lagria villosa (Fabricius, 1783)(Coleoptera: Lagriidae) em áreas de batata, Solanum tuberosum L.".