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LinkedInPosts Tagged: spotted cucumber beetle
Spotted Cucumber Beetles: They Know How to Hit the Spot
Western spotted cucumber beetles know how to hit the spot. Make that "multiple spots." These beetles, Diabrotica undecimpunctata, are agricultural pests that feed on roots, seedlings, flowers and foliage. And they can transmit diseases. But have you ever seen feed on flower...
Wide angle shot of a western spotted cucumber beetle, Diabrotica undecimpunctata, chewing a hole in a petal of a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a western spotted cucumber beetle chewing a hole in a Mexican sunflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The end result: a Mexican sunflower you wouldn't want to enter in a county fair. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a western spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Let's Hear It for Biocontrol, Integrated Pest Management
Let's hear it for biocontrol. You've seen lady beetles, aka ladybugs, preying on aphids. But have you seen an assassin bug attack a spotted cucumber beetle? No? How about a crab spider munching on a stink bug? All biocontrol, part of integrated pest management (IPM). If you access the...
An assassin bug drills a pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lady beetle, aka ladybug, snares an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A crab spider munches on a stink bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A great blue heron engages in a little pest management: it catches a rodent, a meadow vole, at Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The great blue heron gets its prey, a meadow vole, in position before swallowing it whole. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Down on the Farm...
Down on the farm...the Loma Vista Farm.... When the Loma Vista Farm--part of the Vallejo City Unified School District--recently hosted its annual Spring Festival, scores of folks came to see the animals, buy a plant or two, and participate in the many activities. But if you looked closely, you...
A farmer's hand and a very beneficial insect, the lady beetle, aka ladybug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A beneficial insect, the lady beetle (far left), and a pest, the spotted cucumber beetle, share a leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, forages on a butterfly bush at the Loma Vista Farm, Vallejo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A colony of yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, works throughout the Loma Vista Farm's Spring Festival. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The caterpillar of an anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon, munches on fennel or anise, the host plant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Case of Mistaken Identity
"Ah, look at that cute little yellow ladybug! Isn't it pretty?" How many times have you heard that? Often it is not the beneficial lady beetle--commonly referred to as a ladybug--but that dratted pest, the spotted cucumber beetle. In a case last week, it was the dratted spotted cucumber beetle,...
A spotted cucumber beetle foraging on Iceland poppy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Looking for a Thistle
Perhaps it was searching for a thistle. The Mylitta Crescent butterfly (Physiodes mylitta) did not find the thistle—at least in our bee garden. What it did find were the leaves of a tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) where it sunned itself before fluttering off to parts unknown. This...
Mylitta Crescent butterfly (Physiodes mylitta) on the leaf of a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Occupied! This bull thistle is occupied by a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
