''Diabrotica balteata'' is a species of cucumber beetle in the family

Chrysomelidae The beetle family Chrysomelidae, commonly known as leaf beetles, includes over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making it one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Numerous s ...

known commonly as the banded cucumber beetle. It occurs in the Americas, where its distribution extends from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in South America.Banded Cucumber Beetle, ''Diabrotica balteata'' Leconte.
Plant Health - Pest and Diseases Image Library (PaDIL). It is also present in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

.Datasheet: ''Diabrotica balteata''.
2017. Invasive Species Compendium. CABI. It is a pest of a variety of agricultural crops.Capinera, J. L
Banded Cucumber Beetle, ''Diabrotica balteata''.
Entomology and Nematology. University of Florida, IFAS. 1999, revised 2007. Diabrotica balteata 4

Description and life cycle

This beetle is 5 to 6 millimeters long. It has a red head and black

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

. The

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

are yellow, marked with three transverse bands in shades of green or blue-green and a narrower longitudinal green line down the center. The pattern of banding is variable and nearly absent in some individuals. The color of the elytra is influenced by the types of plants the beetle eats.Teng, H., et al. (1984)
Performance and host preference of adult banded cucumber beetles, ''Diabrotica balteata'', when offered several crops.
''J Agric Entomol'' 1(4) 330-38. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

is also variable and has three

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s. The new larva is white and about 2.3 millimeters long. It may turn yellow as it consumes plant material. The later-instar larva may reach nearly 9 millimeters. The adult mates at about six days of age. The female begins producing eggs about 16 days later. She lays a cluster of eggs every few days for two to eight weeks, producing up to 15 clusters, for a maximum of 850 eggs. A cluster has up to 100 oval yellow eggs each about half a millimeter long. The female oviposits the cluster in a crack in the soil, and the eggs hatch in 5 to 9 days. The larva develops for 11 to 17 days,

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

tion takes 4 to 6 days, and the adult has an average life span of 26 days. There is no

diapause In animal dormancy, diapause is the delay in development in response to regular and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions.Tauber, M.J., Tauber, C.A., Masaki, S. (1986) ''Seasonal Adaptations of Insects''. Oxford University Press It ...

. In the best conditions there can be six or seven generations per year. In

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

, Mexico, the beetle is most commonly observed in May through July. This may be a time of high dispersal. Abundance is apparently increased by late spring and summer rainfall, and flight activity increases with wind speed.Rodríguez-del-Bosque, L. A. and A. Magallanes-Estala. (1994)
Seasonal abundance of ''Diabrotica balteata'' and other diabroticina beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in northeastern Mexico.
''Environmental Entomology'' 23(6) 1409-15.

Distribution

The beetle likely originated in the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

Americas and has moved into more

temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...

s. By the early 1900s it was limited to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in the United States. During the 1920s it spread up the coast of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

at a rate of about 25 miles per year.Davis, A. C. (1931)
''Diabrotica balteata'' Lec.
''Journal of Economic Entomology'' 24(2). It has since spread as far as

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It probably will not progress farther in the continental United States because it does not tolerate freezing temperatures.

Host plants

The larva eats the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

s and

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduc ...

s of plants. The adult feeds on most plant parts, such as

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

, seedling

cotyledon A cotyledon ( ; ; "a cavity, small cup, any cup-shaped hollow", gen. (), ) is a "seed leaf" – a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant – and is formally defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or mor ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s, and

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

parts, including

corn silk Corn silk is a common name for ''Stigma maydis'', the shiny, thread-like, weak fibers that grow as part of ear (botany), ears of corn (maize); the tuft or tassel of silky fibers that protrude from the tip of the ear of corn. The ear is enclosed i ...

.Banded Cucumber Beetle (''Diabrotica balteata'') .
Technical Fact Sheet. Plantwise Knowledge Bank. A polyphagous species, this beetle has a variety of host plants from several different families. Among its primary hosts are

cucurbits The Cucurbitaceae (), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera.

such as

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. It can also specifically refer to ''Cucumis melo'', commonly known as the "true melon" or simply "melon". The term "melon" can apply to both the p ...

, squash, gourd, and pumpkin,

beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...

such as

common bean ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', the common bean,, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green bean, green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a Leaf vegetable, vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its Pla ...

and

lima bean A lima bean (''Phaseolus lunatus''), also commonly known as butter bean, sieva bean, double bean or Madagascar bean, is a legume grown for its edible seeds or beans. Origin and uses ''Phaseolus lunatus'' is found in Meso- and South America. Tw ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...

, and

winged bean The winged bean (''Psophocarpus tetragonolobus''), also known as , Goa bean, four-angled bean, four-cornered bean, manila bean, princess bean, star bean, kamrangi bean, pea, or dragon bean, is a tropical herbaceous legume plant. Winged bean is ...

. Secondary hosts include

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

, and

crucifers Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some ar ...

such as

cabbages Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nbs ...

. Other known wild and cultivated host plants include

amaranth ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan group of more than 50 species which make up the genus of annual plant, annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some names include "prostrate pigweed" an ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

, crownbeard,

watermelon The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...

, silverleaf nightshade,Schalk, J. M. (1986). Rearing and handling of ''Diabrotica balteata''. Chapter 3 In: ''Methods for the study of pest'' Diabrotica. (pp. 49-56). Springer New York.

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

beet The beetroot (British English) or beet (North American English) is the taproot portion of a '' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'' plant in the Conditiva Group. The plant is a root vegetable also known as the table beet, garden beet, dinner ...

okra Okra (, ), ''Abelmoschus esculentus'', known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the Malvaceae, mallow family native to East Africa. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions aro ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

, and

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...

Impacts

The beetle causes the most serious damage to plants when the adult defoliates them and the larva attacks the roots, especially in seedlings. The larva is very damaging to the root tuber of the sweet potato. It riddles the tuber with holes which expand as the root grows, turning into craters.Jett, L. J., et al. (1998)
Banded cucumber beetle (''Diabrotica balteata'' LeC.) injury during sweetpotato development.
''HortScience'' 33(3) 475. Such root damage reduces plant growth and fruit production, and it makes the crop less marketable. Another consequence of beetle damage to plants is viral and bacterial infection. Even if the actual damage is minor, the injury can facilitate the entry of pathogens that can be lethal to the plant. This beetle is a

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

for the pathogens that cause many forms of plant disease, including

cowpea mosaic virus Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) is a non-enveloped plant virus of the comovirus group. Infection of a susceptible cowpea leaf causes a "mosaic" pattern in the leaf, and results in high virus yields (1-2 g/kg). Its genome consists of 2 molecules of ...

, cowpea severe mosaic virus, cowpea chlorotic mottle virus, bean rugose mosaic virus, bean mild mosaic virus, quail pea mosaic virus,

squash mosaic virus Squash mosaic virus (SqMV) is a mosaic virus disease common in squash plants and other plants, including melons, of the family Cucurbitaceae. It occurs worldwide. It is transmitted primarily by beetles, including the leaf beetle ('' Acalymma trivi ...

, melon necrotic spot virus, and

bacterial wilt Bacterial wilt is a complex of diseases that occur in plants such as Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae (tomato etc.) and are caused by the pathogens ''Erwinia tracheiphila'', a gram-negative bacterium, or '' Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumf ...

Insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

s are used to control this species, mainly to target the larvae in the roots. The mermithid

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

'' Filipjevimermis leipsandra'' has been studied as a possible agent of

biological pest control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or ot ...

.Elsey, K. D. (1989)
Effect of temperature on development and survival of the mermithid ''Filipjevimermis leipsandra''.
''Journal of Nematology'' 21(3) 416-18. Another

entomopathogenic nematode Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) are a group of nematodes (thread worms), that cause death to insects. The term ''entomopathogenic'' has a Greek origin, with ''entomon'', meaning ''insect'', and ''pathogenic'', which means ''causing disease''. T ...

, ''

Steinernema carpocapsae ''Steinernema carpocapsae'' is an entomopathogenic nematode and a member of the family Steinernematidae. It is a parasitic roundworm that has evolved an insect-killing symbiosis with bacteria, and kills its hosts within a few days of infection. ...

'', will also attack this species.Kuhlmann, U. and A. C. M. Van der Burgt. (1998)
Possibilities for biological control of the western corn rootworm, ''Diabrotica virgifera virgifera'' LeConte, in Central Europe.
''Biocontrol News and Information'' 19(2) 59N-68N. Some plants are more resistant to the beetle than others. It was noted that in

romaine lettuce Romaine or cos lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'' L. var. ''longifolia'') is a variety of lettuce that grows in a tall head of sturdy dark green leaves with firm ribs down their centers. Unlike most lettuces, it is tolerant of heat. In North America, ...

crops, the

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

'Valmaine' is resistant to attack, while 'Tall Guzmaine' is not.Huang, J., et al. (2002)
Resistance to adult banded cucumber beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in romaine lettuce.
''Journal of Economic Entomology'' 95(4) 849-55. Later studies suggest that the

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

produced by 'Valmaine' is repellent to the beetle.Huang, J., et al. (2003)
Resistance in lettuce to ''Diabrotica balteata'' (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): the roles of latex and inducible defense.
''Environmental Entomology'' 32(1) 9-16.

Ecology

Natural enemies of the beetle include

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s, which prey on its eggs, particularly in the tropics. A ''

Heterorhabditis ''Heterorhabditis'' is a genus of nematodes belonging to the order Rhabditida. All species of this genus are obligate parasites of insects, and some are used as biological control agents for the control of pest insects. ''Heterorhabditis'' nema ...

'' nematode isolated from the larva of this beetle has been demonstrated to be a

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

that causes rapid mortality.Creighton, C. S. and F. Fassuliotis. (1985)
''Heterorhabditis'' sp. (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae): a nematode isolated from the banded cucumber beetle ''Diabrotica balteata''.
''Journal of Nematology'' 17 150-53. It is also a host to the tachinid fly

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

'' Celatoria compressa''.Cabrera Walsh, G. (2004)
Distribution, host specificity, and overwintering of ''Celatoria bosqi'' Blanchard (Diptera: Tachinidae), a South American parasitoid of ''Diabrotica'' spp.(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae).
''Biological Control'' 29(3) 427-34.

Names

Other common names for the insect include belted cucumber beetle in English, , , , and in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, and in French.''Diabrotica balteata''.
Crop Protection Compendium. Wallingford, UK. CAB International. 2013.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2195958 Galerucinae Agricultural pest insects Insect vectors of plant pathogens Beetles described in 1865 Taxa named by John Lawrence LeConte