Bug FAQStriped Cucumber Beetle
Acalymma vittatum · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Chrysomelidae
Source: Wikipedia
Striped cucumber beetles are small (about 5 mm long) insects with yellow wing covers marked by three black stripes. They live from eastern North America to the Rockies, reaching into Mexico and southern Canada, and are most active in spring mornings and evenings, feeding on fruits, foliage and flowers of cucurbit plants. The beetles are attracted to cucurbitacin, a plant chemical that most herbivores avoid, and they can be managed with bait crops, biological agents, and early-season controls.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The adult has yellow elytra crossed by three black longitudinal stripes.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults are about 5.25 mm long, a bit shorter than the similar western corn rootworm which is around 6.3 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
Because it harms cucurbit crops, farmers treat fields in early spring and may plant bait crops high in cucurbitacin to draw beetles away.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
Control methods include biological agents and bait crops that contain cucurbitacin to attract and trap beetles.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It occurs from eastern North America west to the Rocky Mountains, extending north to southern Canada and south to Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
In spring the adults feed on a variety of plant parts, including fruits, leaves and flowers, and fruit feeding can cause scarring.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The beetle is unusual because it tolerates and is attracted to cucurbitacin, a defensive chemical in cucurbit plants.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Feeding activity peaks in the morning and early evening of spring.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range matches its habitat: eastern North America to the Rockies, Mexico to southern Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It can be mistaken for the western corn rootworm, but the rootworm is noticeably longer.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 43 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Pennsylvania, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Vermont, Kentucky.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell a striped cucumber beetle from a western corn rootworm?
The beetle is about 5 mm long with yellow elytra and three black stripes, while the rootworm is longer, around 6 mm, and lacks the striped pattern.
Source: Wikipedia
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/Acalymma_vittatum
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.