Hispellinus australicus
Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:56 PM
Hi guys,
I came across a couple of these elusive leaf beetles in my yard. To the naked eye they are just a very tiny plain black beetle. They are only about 2mm long. I did a google search on them and only found a few entries and no photos so thought you might like to be the first site with a picture. I love their spiky wing case.
aussietrev
Queensland, Australia
Leaf Beetle: Hispellinus australicus
Hi Trevor,
Thanks so much for giving us the honor of posting your landmark photo of Hispellinus australicus, a Leaf Beetle. It surely is a distinctive looking specimen.
Um… what’s this bug?
Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 7:04 AM
OK, so I know there are more types insects than any all the other types of creatures put together, and asking you about an insect from ASIA is asking a lot, but I went on a trip through Vietnam and found this little guy on a sign near a beach close to Danang and it’s so weird! I can’t find anything like it. I live in China and see weird bugs all the time, but can usually put them in some sort of category of the bugs I know back home in the states. (okay, so I live in an urban jungle of 20 million people, but I still see crazy insects)
This thing had some sort of CLEAR shell over a more normal looking shell. It was probably 3/4 of an inch long and didn’t budge. I now wished I would have poked it a bit to see how it moved, but I wanted to leave it alone. Probably the nice choice. It looks like a beetle, but I thought it might even be some sort of true bug in a stage of metamorphoses? Heck, I dunno. But I’ve googled all sorts of combinations of transparent, clear, and beetle, and can’t find much more than tricked out Volkswagons.
Help me, Whatsthatbug! You’re my only hope!
ajg
On land by a beach, near Danang Vietnam, in the rainy season.
Spotted Tortoise Beetle
Dear ajg,
This is a Spotted Tortoise Beetle, Aspidomorpha miliaris. There are related species found in North America.
¶
Posted 03 January 2009
§
‡
°
dont know what this is.
Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 11:17 AM
hi, i’m in new york. suffolk county long island. i found this bug on my cucumber leaves. their was a whole bunch in july. i still got cucumbers, but these bugs were eating the leaves. thanks for any info you can give me.
christine
suffolk county long island NY
Unknown Cucumber Pest
Hi Christine,
Seeing as your cucumber leaf lover is immature, it is a bit more difficult to properly identify. We must confess that we aren’t entirely sure of the order. We wish the mouth parts were visible in your photo or that you had described the leaf damage. Were they chewed or did they wither? The reason we would like to know about the mouth parts or leaf damage is that our first inclination is that this is some type of Hemipteran, the insect order containing insects with sucking mouthparts like Aphids and True Bugs. We couldn’t find a match on BugGuide. We might also entertain that this might be the larva of one of the Leaf Beetles though we favor a Hemipteran. Many Tortoise Beetles are covered with projections, but we couldn’t find a match on BugGuide. We will contact Eric Eaton to get some assistance.
Hi:
Peculiar as it is, it is the larva of a leaf beetle (family Chrysomelidae).
Eric
¶
Posted 10 November 2008
§
‡
°
Unidentified bug
Taipei, Taiwan, taken last Saturday. Thanks!
Spotted Tortoise Beetle, Aspidomorpha miliaris.
¶
Posted 30 March 2008
§
‡
°
Hi Bugman
I hope you are the person who can tell me what kind of bug that I photographed. This striped bug reminded me of a ladybug when it flew but it has stripes instead of dots. I was walking through a marsh area in southeastern Michigan. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Cris Music
Michigan-USA
Hi Chris,
We wrote to Eric Eaton for more information on your Leaf Beetle from the Family Chrysomelidae. Here is what he wrote: “This is indeed a leaf beetle, probably in the genus Disonycha, one of the larger flea beetles. Can’t give a species without running the specimen through a key, but that should get you in the ballpark to find more info.”
¶
Posted 13 May 2005
§
‡
°
tomato leaf eating bug
I hate this thing! Tons of them are eating my tomato plants!
robert
Hi Robert,
The closest I can get for you is it is one of the Chrysomelidae, or Leaf Beetles. It looks to be a close relative of the Cucumber Beetles.
¶
Posted 09 May 2005
§
‡
°
NJ Bug?
Hi,
We just moved into a 1920s cape about 4 months ago. Today I went to open the garage door and saw this bug there. I have NEVER seen this here or in NY before and was mesmerized. It just sat there. Looked like maybe it was gnawing on the wooden garage. It just sat there. I was able to snap this picture without it budging. But about an hour or so later I came back to look for it and it’s gone.
Is it dangerous???
Celia, NJ
Hi Celia,
Your garage is safe, but your potato plants, tomato plants and pepper plants could get eaten by the Colorado Potato Beetle which was originally found only in the Rocky Mountain States. The nationwide commercial growing of agricultural crops is responsible for this pest’s spread far and wide. Both adults and larvae devour leaves.
¶
Posted 02 September 2004
§
‡
°
Our site just went down for the month, and though we have 130 letters outstanding, we decided to photograph this event taking place on our Datura plant. We noticed that the leaves were being eaten and found large numbers of beetle grub, chewing hungrily. They had an unusual viscous liquid on their backs. We also noticed a small green and black striped beetle on the plant. Guessing they were different stages of the same species, we researched the Three-Lined Potato Beetle, Lema trilineata, also called the Old-Fashioned Potato Beetle. This beetle obviously went out of fashion when the Colorado Potato Beetle became such a pest. Our Audubon Society Guide states: “Voracious larvae gather in clusters on potato leaves, nibbling lacy holes and eventually consuming all but the midvein. Unlike other larvae of other potato-feeders, they are blanketed in a wet froth of their own secretions. Adults can be distinguished from the Striped Cucumber Beetle by the constriction behind the thorax.”Datura is a member of the potato family, which explains the beetles presence on this hallucinogenic plant.
¶
Posted 12 August 2004
§
‡
°
Hello
I was wondering if you could tell me what the attached bug is. We are in our late 50’s and have never seen this bug before. It is on our morning glory vines in Oklahoma. The gold spots are very bright.
Thanks for any information.
Gary
Hi Gary,
You have a photo of a Mottled Tortoise Beetle, Deloyala guttata. The species is often found on the foilage of Morning Glories. They are also called Gold Beetles by some people.
¶
Posted 08 August 2004
§
‡
°
The other is a beetle, I think it’s either a flea beetle or a case-bearing leaf beetle. It’s hind femora are enlarged, but it also has yellow patches on the elytra where most flea beetles have solid colored elytra.
Thanks again,
Dave
Hi Dave,
We agree that your beetle is a Flea Beetle, more specifically Phyllotreta bipustulata. They vary from 1.6 to 2.5 mm in length and are blackish with orange elytral spots. “The hind tibia of Phyllotreta” according to Lutz, “are not grooved on the outer edge, but slightly excavated near the tip and with a spur at the middle beneath.” A close relative that is similarly colored but with different markings is Phyllotreta vittata, which is common on cabbage.
¶
Posted 05 August 2004
§
‡
°
I’ve been watching an insect in my sun garden for two days now. It looks a bit like a lady beetle or lady beetle larva, but the head seems different – just small and black – no big platey head with white patches – and it has very long antennae. Also, it is yellow. It has eleven black spots – a row of three near the head, the middle spot being in a “v” shape, and then two rows of four. Can you please tell me what it is? Sorry that I don’t have a camera good enough at closeups to photograph it for you (if you can recommend a good digital camera for photographing insects and flowers, please let me know – I am thinking of requesting that from hubby for Christmas…).
Thanks, and I love your site!!
Julia
Hi Julia,
It sounds like a Spotted Cucumber Beetle, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi. Here is a photo I downloaded from this site which has lots of information on this garden pest.
That’s it! That’s it! Thanks! Julia
¶
Posted 30 June 2004
§
‡
°
Gold Bug
Dear Bugman
Hope you can help ID this bug. Found amongst grass/meadow flowers in China, Guangxi. Thought it was a small button at first being about 10mm across, shiny, golden/bronze with a domed transluscent ‘plastic’ disc for protection. Small feelers scanned ahead and when disturbed the four suction cupped feet clamped the body down. May have been able to fly.
Sorry for the poor image.
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
I cannot tell you an exact species name since I don’t have a guide to Chineese Beetles, but it is a Tortoise Beetle, Family Cassidinae. They get their name from their form. Many of them are beautifully colored in life, but the golden hues rapidly fade after death. Many feed on sweet potatoes and other Convulvulaceae, like morning glories.
¶
Posted 28 June 2004
§
‡
°
rss
