Western Spotted Cucumber Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata

Not understanding the problem.

It doesn't get much more straightforward than this:-) Moved to subspecies page.

… Eric R. Eaton, 4 October, 2008 - 2:03am

The problem is that our resource

and the BugGuide Info page says "The head, antennae and legs are entirely black (howardi) or with some greenish-yellow (undecimpunctata)." Yet everything we seem to be putting into D. u. undecimpunctata seems to have entirely black antennae and legs!! We think the reference (and consequently the Info page) are wrong, with the all black one being undecimpunctata. If we can get a coleopterist to confirm this, then we can separate the subspecies comfortably.

… john and jane balaban, 4 October, 2008 - 9:45am

How old is your source material, J&J?

Please see this post:

I can't sort this out, but it appears that there may be as many as three versions: eastern, western, and other. We don't have eastern listed as such at Bug Guide.

… Ron Hemberger, 9 October, 2008 - 8:41am

Sorry, we did not actually mean 'our' as John and Jane

We meant the reference cited by BugGuide on the Info page. Please check the Info page and the references cited there.

… john and jane balaban, 9 October, 2008 - 3:49pm

Moved

Moved from Frass. Let's move it to ID Request and maybe one of the coleoptera experts will make a clear statement that the reference is incorrect. Then we can move it to the western subspecies page.

… john and jane balaban, 14 September, 2008 - 3:14pm

Thanks

Thank you, I'll be more cautious in the future.

… Peter Devereaux, 14 September, 2008 - 3:47pm

Well you clearly have the right

to throw any of your images into frass anytime you like. But we just hoped we could use your image to clarify some confusion on BugGuide. Thank you for that opportunity and let's see what happens.

… john and jane balaban, 14 September, 2008 - 6:18pm

Frassed

Moved from ID Request.

… Peter Devereaux, 14 September, 2008 - 12:53am

We wouldn't be so quick to frass

since your image might be helpful with separating the western subspecies. One of the difficulties so far is that the reference given seems to have confused the ID. It states that the beetles with yellow or green on the antennae or legs are undecimpunctata while the ones with all black legs are howardi (the eastern subspecies). If you examine the images on BugGuide, however, you will see in yours and

the legs and antennae are all black while on

, for example, the legs and antennae have some yellow!

We believe that the reference has an error in this regard and your image reinforces our belief.

… john and jane balaban, 14 September, 2008 - 10:42am

Apology

John and Jane, I apologize if I was pre-mature moving the image. To be honest I concentrated more on the number of spots (11 for undecimpunctata and 12 for howardi) than color variations. I will move the image back to "ID request" or to another location?

… Peter Devereaux, 14 September, 2008 - 12:38pm

This my friend is a "Spotted

This my friend is a "Spotted Cucumber Beetle" Its a leaf beetle.

Family: Chrysomelidae
Scientific name: Diabrotica Undecimpunctata Howardi

Found in gardens and can destroy many plants if in large numbers. Pretty beetles and appear to enjoy purple plants

… Kevin Bulger, 13 September, 2008 - 11:51pm

Spotted Cucumber Beetle

Thanks very much. There is a reference on the guide page to "Western Spotted Cucumber Beetle" (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) which considering the location would match up nicely. Thanks again.

… Peter Devereaux, 14 September, 2008 - 12:46am