Location: Columbia, Maryland
February 5, 2013 4:02 pm
Been looking to ID this beetle. Got your book Curious World of Bugs, and thought maybe a 10 line beetle. An entymologist suggested a ”potatoe beetle”. What say you? It was photographed by a pond.Mid July, 2013.
The Ten Line Beetle you mention is probably a Ten Lined June Beetle, and that is a much larger insect than this False Potato Beetle, Leptinotarsa juncta. According to BugGuide: ” a brown stripe at the center of each elytron (wing cover) and on the inner edge of each elytron (where they meet down the middle) distinguish this species” from the Colorado Potato Beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata.