Colorado beetle, Ten-striped spearman, Ten-lined potato beetle, Potato bug
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 crops. It is about.mw-parser-output.frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output.frac.num,.mw-parser-output.frac.den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output.frac.den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output.sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}10 mm (3⁄8 in) long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each of its elytra. Native to the Rocky Mountains, it spread rapidly in potato crops across America and then Europe from 1859 onwards.
Neapolitan mandolins (also called Italian mandolins) are often called tater bugs, a nickname given by American luthier Orville Gibson, 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, the word kolorady, from the Ukrainian and Russian term for Colorado beetle (Ukrainian: жук колорадський, Russian: колорадский жук), gained popularity among Ukrainians as a derogatory term to describe pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (provinces) of Eastern Ukraine. The nickname reflects the similarity of black and orange stripes on St. George's ribbons worn by many of the separatists.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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PolygynandryPolygynandry is a mating system in which both males and females have multiple mating partners during a breeding season.
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starts withAdult beetles typically are 6–11 mm (0.24–0.43 in) in length and 3 mm (0.12 in) in width. They weigh 50-170 mg. The beetles are orange-yellow in colour with 10 characteristic black stripes on their elytra. The specific 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 15 mm (0.59 in) in length in their final instar stage. The beetle larva has four instar 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.
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) was not made until about 1859, when it began destroying potato crops in the region of Omaha, Nebraska. 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 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 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 during or immediately following World War I 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, in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, almost half of all potato fields were infested by the beetle by 1950. In East Germany, they were known as Amikäfer ('Yankee beetles') following a governmental claim that the beetles were dropped by American planes. In the European Union, 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.
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 1 mm (0.039 in) 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 larvae with humped backs and two rows of dark brown spots, one row on each side. They feed on the leaves of their host plants. Larvae progress through four distinct growth stages (instars). First instars measure about 1.50 mm (0.059 in) long, and the last (fourth) instars about 8 mm (0.31 in) long. The first through third instars each last about 2–3 days; 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 pupate. 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 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.
L. decemlineata has a strong association with plants in the family Solanaceae, particularly those of the genus Solanum. It is directly associated with Solanum cornutum (buffalo-bur), Solanum nigrum (black nightshade), Solanum melongena (eggplant or aubergine), Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade), Solanum luteum (hairy nightshade), Solanum tuberosum (potato), and Solanum elaeagnifolium (silverleaf nightshade). They are also associated with other plants in this family, namely the species Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and the genus Capsicum (pepper).
