Monday, May 25, 2015

False Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa juncta)


April 14th, 2015. I was just about home from a long trike ride when a…


small beetle flew down and landed on the leg of my long cycling pants. It was a striking beetle, a little bigger than a ladybug.

It was calm enough that I was able to coax it onto my left hand and grab my camera in my right hand. It was quite active and ran around on my…


arm and…


fingers while I took photos.

When I was ready to leave, I put it back on the…

ground. I’m glad it flew onto me; I would never have seen it on the ground.

With such a distinctive color pattern, it was relatively easy to identify. It’s a False Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa juncta), a member of the Leef Beetle family, Chrysomelidae.

Identification resource: 

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