Family: Chrysomelidae
Subfamily: Galerucinae
Length: 6-8 mm
This is a colorful and attractive beetle, but the bane of many a farmer and gardener. The various subspecies of Spotted Cucumber Beetle are pestiferous not only on Cucumber, but also Melons, Corn, Celery, Parsnips, and other crops. Diabrotica undecimpunctata has also been reported on wild and cultivated flowers, shrubs, trees, and even fungi.
In addition to this Spotted Cucumber Beetle, West Virginia is also home to the Striped Cucumber Beetle, Acalymma vittatum.
The color of the elytra vary from pale yellow to green. Each elytron has six black spots, but since the spot nearest the scutellum merges with its corresponding spot from the other elytron, the Latin specific name means "Eleven-spotted." The elytra are glossy and finely punctate.
The larva has its own common name, Corn Rootworm, since it is a major pest of Corn and related grasses.
Left: This ubiquitous member of the Leaf Beetle family has even been spotted visiting fungi and this chlorophyll-lacking flowering plant, Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora).
Moreover, Lago and Stanford (1989) reported that Diabrotica undecimpunctata is an abundant visitor to marijuana plants. The two researchers conducted their study at the University of Mississippi's liscensed marijuana plantation, where marijuana is grown for research (so it is said).
Insects of West Virginia
