Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Rutelinae
Length: 18-26 mm
Pelidnota punctata boasts black two spots on the pronotum and six on the elytra. The legs and undersurface may be deep metallic green, or else pitch black.
Adults are a pest of wild grapes and of vineyards, while the larvae feed on the decaying roots of various species of trees.
As Philip Harpootlian points out, the Grapevine Beetle is a variable speciesso much so that T.L. Casey named ten species and subspecies in 1915, names that were later merged back into Pelidnota punctata.
In West Virginia, the peak of flight activity for Pelidnota punctata comes in July and August.
Left: detail of the head, pronotum, and scutellum of the Grapevine Beetle.
Insects of West Virginia
