Striped cucumber beetle
The striped cucumber beetle is a tiny yellow beetle with three black stripes running down its back. It loves cucumber, pumpkin and squash plants. Farmers are not happy about that, because it can damage their crops.
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Fun facts
Cucumber plants make a bitter chemical to keep bugs away, but this beetle actually likes it.
When a male finds good food, he gives off a smell that calls other beetles to the party.
It looks a lot like the western corn rootworm, but its stripes go all the way to the tip of its wings.
West of the Rocky Mountains it is replaced by a duller cousin.
Most asked questions about Striped cucumber beetle
?What does the striped cucumber beetle eat?
Plants in the cucumber family, like cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.
?How big is a striped cucumber beetle?
Only about 5 millimetres long.
?Is the striped cucumber beetle harmful?
Not to people, but it is a serious pest for farmers who grow cucumbers and pumpkins.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Acalymma vittatum
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Chrysomelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Chrysomelidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Acalymma vittatum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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