Subject: Yellow Beetle
Geographic location of the bug: Bismarck, ND
Date: 07/25/2019
Time: 07:24 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: The stripes are dark blue and hisses when disturbed. About 1/4” long.
How you want your letter signed: R. Green
Dear R. Green,
This looks to us like a Three Lined Potato Beetle, Lema daturaphila, which is pictured on BugGuide. There is no mention on BugGuide of stridulation, which is the hissing sound you heard the beetle make by rubbing together parts of its body. This comment “I remember the first time I heard them squeaking like little birds when I picked them up” appears on another BugGuide posting.
Thank you so much! It does make chirps and squeaks and small hisses. It’s a strange little thing!