#3184 · 🪲 beetles

Colorado Potato Beetle

🇳🇱 Coloradokever ·Leptinotarsa decemlineata

🪲 Beetles 📍 in the Netherlands

9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Ryszard · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Catherine C. Galley · CC BY 4.0
3. © Gertrud K. · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
4. © Sarah Faulwetter · CC BY 4.0
5. © FRANCISCO MIGUEL FARRIOLS ESTRADA · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Brigid Mark · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Christian Grenier · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © Ryszard · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © Dan Staples · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The Colorado potato beetle ( Leptinotarsa decemlineata ), also known as the Colorado beetle , the ten-striped spearman , the ten-lined potato beetle or the potato bug , is a major pest of potato crops. 39 in) long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each of its elytra. Native to America, it spread rapidly in potato crops across America and then Europe from 1859 onwards.

base stats

NL sightings 476iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 20,655iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 476 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #22 most seen of the beetles in NL.
20,655 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Thomas Say in 1824 (202 years ago).