Colorado potato beetle

Leptinotarsa decemlineata · The Colorado potato beetle is a yellow-orange, striped beetle and major potato pest, native to the Rocky Mountains and now spread across North America, Europe and Asia.

Also called Colorado beetle, Ten-striped spearman, Ten-lined potato beetle.

Colorado potato beetle
Photo: Scott Bauer, USDA ARS, Public domain
Colorado potato beetle
Photo: Wikimedia Commons : Hélène Rival, CC BY-SA 4.0
Colorado potato beetle
Photo: Anton Vakulenko, CC BY-SA 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderColeoptera
FamilyChrysomelidae
GenusLeptinotarsa
SpeciesLeptinotarsa decemlineata

Where it lives

Native to Mexico and the western US; now across North America, Europe and Asia.

Fun facts

  • A female can lay over 500 eggs in just 4 to 5 weeks.
  • This beetle can go from egg to adult in as little as 21 days.
  • Its species has evolved resistance to 56 different chemical insecticides.
  • During the Cold War, some Warsaw Pact countries claimed the CIA had introduced the beetles, and school children were mobilized to gather and kill them.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).