Bug FAQFalse Potato Beetle
Leptinotarsa juncta · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Chrysomelidae
The false potato beetle has black and white stripes on its back, but the middle white stripe is replaced by a light brown one. It lives in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S., reaching as far north as Maine, and eats various solanaceous weeds but not potatoes. Adults appear in late spring or early summer, breed, and can produce one to three generations in a summer.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults show alternating black and white stripes, with a light brown stripe where the central white stripe would be.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Feeds on solanaceous weeds such as horsenettle and on ground-cherry, husk tomato, and bittersweet, but does not grow or reproduce on potato.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults emerge from soil in late spring or early summer, breed, and may have one to three generations per summer.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults appear in late spring or early summer and start breeding then.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its range extends north to Maine.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Can be confused with the Colorado potato beetle, but the two species do not interbreed.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 33 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Chrysomelidae)
Spotted Cucumber BeetleDiabrotica undecimpunctataDamages trees, gardens or crops
Bean WeevilAcanthoscelides obtectusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Cowpea WeevilCallosobruchus maculatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Swamp Milkweed Leaf BeetleLabidomera clivicollisDamages trees, gardens or crops
Alder Leaf BeetleAgelastica alniDamages trees, gardens or crops
Dogbane Leaf BeetleChrysochus auratusSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_potato_beetle
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.