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Genus Diabrotica - Cucumber Beetles

Spotted cucumber beetle 640 - Diabrotica undecimpunctata Spotted Cucumber Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata Northern Corn Rootworm - Diabrotica barberi Yellow Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata Leaf beetle? - Diabrotica cristata Diabrotica undecimpunctata? - Diabrotica undecimpunctata Malachini? - Diabrotica lemniscata Diabrotica lemniscata? - Diabrotica lemniscata
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Longhorn and Leaf Beetles)
Family Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)
Subfamily Galerucinae (Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles)
Tribe Luperini
Subtribe Diabroticina
No Taxon (Section Diabroticites)
Genus Diabrotica (Cucumber Beetles)
Other Common Names
Cucumber Beetles, Corn Rootworms
Explanation of Names
Diabrotica Chevrolat 1837
Numbers
8 spp. in our area, >350 worldwide(1), 107 in North and Central America(2)
Identification
Despite their bright colors and distinct patterns, species are notoriously difficult to identify(2)
key to spp. in(3)
antennomere 3 ≤1.5× as long as antennomere 2 (in Acalymma, at least 2× as long as antennomere 2), fide Ciegler(4) per Arthur Evans pers.comm.
Range
New World (mostly neotropical), incl. most of NA(1)
Remarks
most abundant and destructive in the south; usually not a problem on sandy soil
Works Cited
1.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
2.New species of Diabrotica Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae) and a key to Diabrotica and related genera...
Derunkov, A., Prado L., Tishechkin A., Konstantinov A. 2015. J. Insect Biodiversity 3: 1-55.
3.Derunkov et al. (2013) Diabrotica ID: Identification of Diabrotica species (Col.: Chrysomelidae) from North and Central America
4.Leaf and Seed Beetles of South Carolina
Janet Ciegler. 2007. Clemson University.