So there you are, admiring your Coreopsis and suddenly you notice spots and holes--spots on the backs of two western spotted cucumber beetles, and holes cut in the petals.
Ah, there's two of them.
The beetles, about a fourth of an inch long, are fun to photograph, but they're not your buddies. Nor would they want to be!
"Cucumber beetles are very common pests in vegetable gardens and may also attack ripening stone fruit," says the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program. "The most abundant species in California is the western spotted cucumber beetle, Diabrotica undecimpunctata...The western spotted cucumber beetle is greenish yellow and has twelve black spots on its back."
Ever counted the spots? Yes, 12.
We've seen the beetles feeding on the leaves of flowers and many vegetables. "Cucumber beetles may also spread cucumber mosaic virus or wilts in cucurbits," UC IPM says. "Larvae feed exclusively on roots, but do not generally damage garden plants, although corn may occasionally be damaged."
Spotted cucumber beetles don't move very fast early in the morning, so they're fairly easy to photograph.
And sometimes you get a "two-fer," two in the same image. 24 spots.
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