Systena blanda
Systena blanda
| Palestriped Flea Beetle | |
|---|---|
| Binomial: | Systena blanda |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Metamorphosis: | Complete |
| Damaging stages: | Grubs on roots, adults on cotyledons and foliage |
Palestriped Flea Beetles are a pest of many food crops, and can also cause damage to ornamentals, particularly when the host plants are young.
Description
[edit | edit source]Adult beetle is yellow through brown or black with a paler stripe on each wing cover, and a red head. Like all Flea Beetles, they jump away when disturbed. Grubs are long and thin.
Symptoms and Signs
[edit | edit source]Grubs cause root damage, particularly to tubers such as potatoes or sweet potatoes. Adults cause shotholing or skeletonized leaves, particularly of young plants.
Ecology
[edit | edit source]Overwinters as an adult in debris.
Host plants
[edit | edit source]- Amaranthus
- Ambrosia
- Arachis (Peanut)
- Avena (Oat)
- Brassica
- Capsicum (Pepper)
- Chenopodium
- Convolvulus
- Cucumis
- Cucurbita
- Citrullus
- Daucus
- Fragaria (Strawberry)
- Gossypium (Cotton)
- Helianthus
- Ipomoea
- Iva (Poverty Weed)
- Lactuca (Lettuce)
- Medicago
- Nicotiana
- Phaseolus
- Pisum
- Pyrus
- Solanum
- Vitis
- Zea
Control
[edit | edit source]- Cultural controls: Suppress weed hosts, clean growing area in the autumn or winter, disking fields
- Physical removal: Vacuuming
- Barriers: Row Covers
- Pesticides: Carbaryl, Pifenthrin, Permethrin
- Organic pesticides: Rotenone, Spinosad
- Timing: Planting crops later in the season can help avoid seedling damage.