The Colorado potato beetle (''Leptinotarsa decemlineata''), also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, or the potato bug, is a major
pest of
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
crops. It is about long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each of its
elytra
An elytron (; ; , ) 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 (sometimes alterna ...
. Native to the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
,
it spread rapidly in potato crops across
America and then
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
from 1859 onwards.
Taxonomy
![Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say, 1824) (14198132866)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Leptinotarsa_decemlineata_%28Say%2C_1824%29_%2814198132866%29.png)
The Colorado potato beetle was first observed in 1811 by
Thomas Nuttall
Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841.
Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle in the West Riding of Yorkshire and ...
and was
formally described in 1824 by American entomologist
Thomas Say
Thomas Say (June 27, 1787 – October 10, 1834) was an American entomologist, conchologist, and herpetologist. His studies of insects and shells, numerous contributions to scientific journals, and scientific expeditions to Florida, Georgia, the R ...
.
see pp. 453–454: "Doryphora, Illig.: D. 10-lineata".
/ref> The beetles were collected in the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, where they were feeding on the buffalo bur, '' Solanum rostratum''. The genus ''Leptinotarsa
''Leptinotarsa'' is a genus of leaf beetles.
Several species in the genus produce leptinotarsin, a toxin similar to the diamphotoxin produced by species of the African leaf beetle genus ''Diamphidia''. Some ''Leptinotarsa'' species are parasitis ...
'' is assigned to the chrysolmelid beetle tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
Chrysomelini (in subfamily Chrysomelinae
The Chrysomelinae are a subfamily of leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), commonly known as broad-bodied leaf beetles or broad-shouldered leaf beetles. It includes some 3,000 species around the world.
The best-known member is the notorious Colorado po ...
).
Description
Adult beetles typically are in length and in width. They weigh 50-170 mg. The beetles are orange-yellow in colour with 10 characteristic black stripes on their elytra
An elytron (; ; , ) 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 (sometimes alterna ...
. The specific
Specific may refer to:
* Specificity (disambiguation)
* Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness
Law
* Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual
* Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the fina ...
name ''decemlineata'', meaning 'ten-lined', derives from this feature. Adult beetles may, however, be visually confused with ''L. juncta'', the false potato beetle, which is not an agricultural pest. ''L. juncta'' also has alternating black and white strips on its back, but one of the white strips in the center of each wing cover is missing and replaced by a light brown strip.
The orange-pink larvae have a large, 9-segmented abdomen, black head, and prominent spiracles, and may measure up to in length in their final instar stage. The beetle larva has four instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ...
stages. The head remains black throughout these stages, but the pronotum changes colour from black in first- and second-instar larvae to having an orange-brown edge in its third-instar. In fourth-instar larvae, about half the pronotum is coloured light brown. This tribe is characterised within the subfamily by round to oval-shaped convex bodies, which are usually brightly coloured, simple claws which separate at the base, open cavities behind the procoxae, and a variable apical segment of the maxillary palp
Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") ...
.
Distribution
The beetle is most likely native to the area between Colorado and northern Mexico, and was discovered in 1824 by Thomas Say in the Rocky Mountains. It is found in North America, and is present in every state and province except Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Nevada. It now has a wide distribution across Europe and Asia, totalling over 16 million km2.
Its first association with the potato plant (''Solanum tuberosum
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
'') was not made until about 1859, when it began destroying potato crops in the region of Omaha, Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
. Its spread eastward was rapid, at an average distance of 140 km per year. By 1874 it had reached the Atlantic Coast. From 1871, American entomologist Charles Valentine Riley
Charles Valentine Riley (18 September 1843 – 14 September 1895) was a British-born American entomologist and artist. He was one of the first individuals to use biological pest control and authored over 2,400 publications. He convinced Congress ...
warned Europeans about the potential for an accidental infestation caused by the transportation of the beetle from America. From 1875, several Western European countries, including Germany, Belgium, France, and Switzerland, banned imports of American potatoes to avoid infestation by ''L. decemlineata''.
These controls proved ineffective, as the beetle soon reached Europe. In 1877, ''L. decemlineata'' reached the United Kingdom and was first recorded from Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
docks, but it did not become established. Many further outbreaks have occurred; the species has been eradicated in the UK at least 163 times. The last major outbreak was in 1976. It remains as a notifiable quarantine pest in the United Kingdom and is monitored by DEFRA to prevent it from becoming established. A cost-benefit analysis from 1981 suggested that the cost of the measures used to exclude ''L. decemlineata'' from the UK was less than the likely costs of control if it became established.
Elsewhere in Europe, the beetle became established near USA military bases in Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
during or immediately following World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and had proceeded to spread by the beginning of World War II to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain. The population increased dramatically during and immediately following World War II and spread eastward, and the beetle is now found over much of the continent. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, almost half of all potato fields were infested by the beetle by 1950. In East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, they were known as ''Amikäfer'' ('Yankee beetles') following a governmental claim that the beetles were dropped by American planes. In the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, it remains a regulated (quarantine) pest for the Republic of Ireland, Balearic Islands, Cyprus, Malta, and southern parts of Sweden and Finland. It is not established in any of these member states, but occasional infestations can occur when, for example, wind blows adults from Russia to Finland.
The beetle has the potential to spread to temperate areas of East Asia, India, South America, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.
File:kartoffelkaefer fg01e.jpg, Native range of the potato and native and current range of the Colorado beetle
File:Propagation du doryphore en Amérique du Nord.svg, Expansion of the Colorado potato beetle's range in North America, 1859–1876
File:Doryphore - expansion en Europe.svg, Expansion of the Colorado potato beetle's range in Europe, 1921–1964
Lifecycle
Colorado potato beetle females are very prolific and are capable of laying over 500 eggs in a 4- to 5-week period. The eggs are yellow to orange, and are about long. They are usually deposited in batches of about 30 on the underside of host leaves. Development of all life stages depends on temperature. After 4–15 days, the eggs hatch into reddish-brown larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e with humped backs and two rows of dark brown spots on either side. They feed on the leaves of their host plants. Larvae progress through four distinct growth stages (instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ...
s). First instars measure about long, and the last (fourth) instars measure in length. The first through third instars each last about 2–3 days duration; the fourth lasts 4–7 days. Upon reaching full size, each fourth instar spends several days as a nonfeeding prepupa, which can be recognized by its inactivity and lighter coloration. The prepupae drop to the soil and burrow to a depth of several inches, then pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''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 thei ...
te. In 5 to 10 days, the adult beetle emerges to feed and mate. This beetle can thus go from egg to adult in as little as 21 days. Depending on temperature, light conditions, and host quality, the adults may enter 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 I ...
and delay emergence until spring. They then return to their host plants to mate and feed; overwintering adults may begin mating within 24 hours of spring emergence. In some locations, three or more generations may occur each growing season.
File:Leptinotarsa-decemlineata-eggs.jpg, Eggs laid on the underside of a leaf
File:Leptinotarsa decemlineata UGA1243045.jpg, First-instar larva after hatching
File:Potato beetle larvae.jpg, Early (3rd) instar stage of larvae
File:2006-07-16 larve2.jpg, Late (4th) instar stage of larva, before pupation
File:Leptinotarsa decemlineata UGA1243047 - no watermark.jpg, Pupa
File:Kartoffelkäfer.jpg, Adult beetle after emergence
File:Leptinotarsa decemlineata, A Coruña, Galiza.jpg, Mating adult beetles
Behavior and ecology
Diet
''L. decemlineata'' has a strong association with plants in the family Solanaceae, particularly those of the genus ''Solanum
''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...
''. It is directly associated with
'' Solanum cornutum'' (buffalo-bur), '' Solanum nigrum'' (black nightshade), ''Solanum melongena
Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit.
Mo ...
'' (eggplant or aubergine), '' Solanum dulcamara'' (bittersweet nightshade), '' Solanum luteum'' (hairy nightshade), ''Solanum tuberosum
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
'' (potato), and ''Solanum elaeagnifolium
''Solanum elaeagnifolium'', the silverleaf nightshade or silver-leaved nightshade, is a common native plant to parts of the southwestern USA, and sometimes weed of western North America and also found in South America. Other common names includ ...
'' (silverleaf nightshade). They are also associated with other plants in this family, namely the species ''Solanum lycopersicum
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish wor ...
'' (tomato) and the genus ''Capsicum
''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit.
Etymology and names
The generic name may come from Latin , me ...
'' (pepper).
Predators
At least 13 insect genera, three spider families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...
, one phalangid (Opiliones
The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an order of arachnids colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs. , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the total number of ext ...
), and one mite
Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear e ...
have been recorded as either generalist or specialized predators of the varying stages of ''L. decemlineata''. These include the ground beetle
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal f ...
'' Lebia grandis'', the coccinellid beetles '' Coleomegilla maculata'' and '' Hippodamia convergens'', the shield bugs '' Perillus bioculatus'' and '' Podisus maculiventris'', various species of the lacewing genus '' Chrysopa'', the wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...
genus ''Polistes
Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus ''Polistes'' (the only genus in the tribe Polistini) are the most familiar of the polistine wasps, and are the most common type of paper wasp in North America. Walter Ebeling coined the vernacular name "umbrella ...
'', and the damsel bug
The insecta, insect family (biology), family Nabidae contains the damsel bugs. There are over 500 species in 20 genera. They are soft-bodied, elongate, winged terrestrial predators. Many damsel bugs catch and hold prey with their forelegs, sim ...
genus ''Nabis
Nabis ( grc-gre, Νάβις) was the last king of independent Sparta. He was probably a member of the Heracleidae, and he ruled from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the eponymous " War against Nab ...
''.
The predatory ground beetle ''L. grandis'' is a predator of both the eggs and larvae of ''L. decemlineata'', and its larvae are parasitoids of the pupae. An adult ''L. grandis'' may consume up to 23 eggs or 3.3 larvae in a single day.
In a laboratory experiment, ''Podisus maculiventris'' was used as a predatory threat to female ''L. decemlineata'' specimens, resulting in the production of unviable trophic egg A trophic egg, in most species that produce them, usually is an unfertilised egg because its function is not reproduction but nutrition; in essence it serves as food for offspring hatched from viable eggs. The production of trophic eggs has been ob ...
s alongside viable ones; this response to a predator ensured that additional food was available for newly hatched offspring to increase their survival rate. The same experiment also demonstrated the cannibalism of unhatched eggs by newly hatched ''L. decemlineata'' larvae as an antipredator response.
As an agricultural pest
Potato crop pest
Around 1840, ''L. decemlineata'' adopted the cultivated potato into its host range and it rapidly became a most destructive pest of potato crops. It is today considered to be the most important insect defoliator of potatoes. It may also cause considerable damage to tomato and eggplant crops with both adults and larvae feeding on the plant's foliage. Larvae may defoliate potato plants resulting in yield losses up to 100% if the damage occurs prior to tuber formation. Larvae may consume 40 cm2 of potato leaves during the entire larval stage, but adults are capable of consuming 10 cm2 of foliage per day.
The economic cost of insecticide resistance is significant, but published data on the subject are minimal. In 1994, total costs of the insecticide and crop losses in the US state of Michigan were $13.3 million, representing 13.7% of the total value of the crop. The estimate of the cost implication of insecticides and crop losses per hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
is $138–368. Long-term increased cost to the Michigan potato industry caused by insecticide resistance in Colorado potato beetle was estimated at $0.9 to $1.4 million each year.
Insecticidal management
The large-scale use of insecticides in agricultural crops effectively controlled the pest until it became resistant to DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
in 1952 and dieldrin in 1958. Insecticides remain the main method of pest control on commercial farms. However, many chemicals are often unsuccessful when used against this pest because of the beetle's ability to rapidly develop insecticide resistance. Different populations in different geographic regions have, between them, developed resistance to all major classes of insecticide, although not every population is resistant to every chemical. The species as a whole has evolved resistance to 56 different chemical insecticides. The mechanisms used include improved metabolism of the chemicals, reduced sensitivity of target sites, less penetration and greater excretion of the pesticides, and some changes in the behavior of the beetles.
Nonpesticidal management
Bacterial insecticides can be effective if application is targeted towards the vulnerable early-instar larvae. Two strains of the bacterium
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were amon ...
'' Bacillus thuringiensis'' produce toxins that kill the larvae. Other forms of pest control, through nonpesticidal management are available. Feeding can be inhibited by applying antifeedants, such as fungicides or products derived from Neem (''Azadirachta indica
''Azadirachta indica'', commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus ''Azadirachta'', and is native to the Indian subcontinent and most of the countries in Afr ...
''), but these may have negative effects on the plants, as well. The steam distillate of fresh leaves and flowers of tansy
Tansy (''Tanacetum vulgare'') is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant in the genus ''Tanacetum'' in the aster family, native to temperate Europe and Asia. It has been introduced to other parts of the world, including North America, and in ...
(''Tanacetum vulgare'') contains high levels of camphor and umbellulone
Umbellulone is a headache-inducing monoterpene ketone found in the leaves of the tree '' Umbellularia californica'', sometimes known as the "headache tree".
It is hypothesized to cause headaches by influencing the trigeminovascular system via TR ...
, and these chemicals are strongly repellent to ''L. decemlineata''.
'' Beauveria bassiana'' (Hyphomycetes) is a pathogen
In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...
ic fungus that infects a wide range of insect species, including the Colorado potato beetle. It has shown to be particularly effective as a biological pesticide for ''L. decemlineata'' when used in combination with ''B. thuringiensis''.
Crop rotation is, however, the most important cultural control of ''L. decemlineata''. Rotation may delay the infestation of potatoes and can reduce the build-up of early-season beetle populations because the adults emerging from 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 I ...
can only disperse to new food sources by walking. One 1984 study showed that rotating potatoes with nonhost plants reduced the density of early-season adults by 95.8%.
Other cultural controls may be used in combination with crop rotation: Mulch
A mulch is a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. Reasons for applying mulch include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area.
A mu ...
ing the potato crop with straw early in the growing season may reduce the beetle's ability to locate potato fields, and the mulch creates an environment that favours beetle's predators; Plastic-lined trenches have been used as pitfall trap
A pitfall trap is a trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles. Pitfall traps are a sampling technique, mainly used for ecology studies and ecologic pest control. Animals that enter a pitfall trap are unable to esca ...
s to catch the beetles as they move toward a field of potatoes in the spring, exploiting their inability to fly immediately after emergence; flamethrowers may also be used to kill the beetles when they are visible at the top of the plant's foliage.
Relationship with humans
Cold War villain
During the Cold War, some countries in the Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...
claimed that the beetles had been introduced by the CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
in an attempt to reduce food security by destroying the agriculture of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
.[Ukraine’s Reins Weaken as Chaos Spreads]
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
(4 May 2014)
Lyashko in Lviv poured green
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...
(18 June 2014) A widespread campaign was launched against the beetles; posters were put up and school children were mobilized to gather the pests and kill them in benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms ...
or spirit
Spirit or spirits may refer to:
Liquor and other volatile liquids
* Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks
* Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol
* Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...
.[
]
Philately
''L. decemlineata'' is an iconic species and has been used as an image on stamps because of its association with the recent history of both North America and Europe. For example, in 1956, Romania issued a set of four stamps calling attention to the campaign against insect pests, and it was featured on a 1967 stamp issued in Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. The beetle also appeared on stamps issued in Benin, Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates, and Mozambique.
In popular culture
Neapolitan mandolins (also called Italian mandolins) are often called ''tater bugs'', a nickname given by American luthier Orville Gibson
Orville H. Gibson (May 1856 – August 19, 1918) was a luthier who founded the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1902, makers of guitars, mandolins and other instruments.
His earliest known instrument was a 10-string mandolin-guita ...
, because the shape and stripes of the different color wood strips resemble the back of the Colorado beetle.
The fans of Alemannia Aachen carry the nickname "Kartoffelkäfer", from the German name for the Colorado beetle, because of striped yellow-black jerseys of the team.
During the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the succes ...
, the word , from the Ukrainian and Russian term for Colorado beetle, ( uk, жук колорадський, russian: колорадский жук) gained popularity among Ukrainians as a derogatory term to describe pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...
and Luhansk
Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...
Oblasts (provinces) of Eastern Ukraine
Eastern Ukraine or east Ukraine ( uk, Східна Україна, Skhidna Ukrayina; russian: Восточная Украина, Vostochnaya Ukraina) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Khar ...
. The nickname reflects the similarity of black and orange stripes on St. George's ribbons worn by many of the separatists.
Notes
:1.For a more comprehensive list of natural predators, pathogens and parasitoids, se
here
References
External links
PotatoBeetle.org
Polish Film Chronicle: Fight against Colorado Beetle
{{Authority control
Chrysomelinae
Potatoes
Agricultural pest insects
Insects of the United States
Beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
Beetles of North America
Beetles described in 1824
Articles containing video clips
Taxa named by Thomas Say
Insects in culture
Beetles of Europe
Biological anti-agriculture weapons