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Photo#154422
Mexican Bean Beetle - Epilachna varivestis

Mexican Bean Beetle - Epilachna varivestis
Bear, New Castle County, Delaware, USA
September 17, 2006
Size: ~ 7 mm

beetle
that looks more like E.varivestis or Mexican bean beetle

 
Mexican Bean Beetle
Thank you! You seem to be correct so I will change the common name on my image. I have been trying to see what is the difference between E. varivestis and E. borealis. In the images that I examined, the only thing that I can see is that E. borealis has black spots on the area directly behind its head whereas E. varivestis does not. I am not sure if that is the distinguishing charectaristic; I am hoping that an expert can be more specific.

 
good book
I'm not an expert, but I do have a hard to find copy of an expert's good book.(1) From the key to species of Epilachna, E. varivestis = "each elytron with 8 dark spots; pronotum immaculate" (spotless), while E. borealis (and one other species found only from western TX and southern AZ) = "each elytron with 7 dark spots; pronotum usually with 4 dark spots".

As yours doesn't have any spots on the pronotum, it would seem to be E. varivestis :)

 
E. varivestis
This is very useful information - thank you!

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