I walked out my front door this daybreak to inspect my angelical potato plants . It ’s only a hebdomad or two until it ’s finally time to harvest my heirloom crop of all - royal mellisonant white potato , and I ’m eager to comprehend them up .
As I examined the Irish potato foliage , I mark that some nefarious insect had been munching on the leave . minor , round , stretch holes were scattered across the interior of several leaves . I bulge to look nearer at the flora , and after flip over five to 10 leaf , I encountered the perpetrator : a droplet of liquefied gold the size of ladybug .
It was a golden tortoise beetle , one of the most visually arresting beetles that I know . More searching revealed a second tortoise beetle specie , the mottled tortoise mallet , featuring a darker color scheme . fortunately at this late stagecoach of development , my sweet potatoes are improbable to be negatively bear upon by the consumption of leaves by these pestilence .
Several tortoise mallet species ( Order : Coleoptera , Family : Chrysomelida ) , include the golden and mottled tortoise beetles that I see , are commonly see throughout the continental United States . you’re able to find them most oft found on plant in the morning - glory family , which befall to include sweet tater .
The grownup beetle are turtleneck - shaped with rounded bodies low-down to the reason , and when disturbed , the dirt ball can withdraw beneath a protective shell . The beetles themselves are quite small , less than a quarter inch in full length , and colors range from metallic Au ( golden tortoise beetle ) to brownish red or a combination of glum and metallic vista ( mottled tortoise mallet ) .
Overwintering tortoise beetle grownup lay orchis in late spring on the undersurface of leave . The larvae crosshatch and course on flora , leaving behind the same telltale cakehole as the adult . The larvae look nothing like the adults — they’re small and level with burred protrusion around the intact body and are brown or green larva depending on the particular species . Tortoise beetle larvae have a classifiable movable extremity on their backsides , which carry their dried waste material and can be used a defensive shield or as disguise when threated .
In general , tortoise beetles cause relatively little harm to sweet white potato vine and other crop due to low populations of the pest . However , if they ’re causing trouble in your garden , physical removal is likely the better solution .
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