Western Striped Cucumber Beetle

Acalymma trivittatum · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Chrysomelidae

Damages trees, gardens or crops. It damages cucurbit crops such as cucumbers and squash.

Source: Wikipedia

Western Striped Cucumber Beetle
Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY

The western striped cucumber beetle lives in Central America and North America. It is a major pest of plants in the cucumber family.

Source: Wikipedia

Is it a pest in the house?

It is considered a key pest on cucurbit crops.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

It occurs in Central America and North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 10 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Washington, North Carolina, Pennsylvania.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Western Striped Cucumber Beetle photo 2
Photo: Trevor Van Loon, CC BY
Western Striped Cucumber Beetle photo 3
Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY
Western Striped Cucumber Beetle photo 4
Photo: W Rao, CC BY
Western Striped Cucumber Beetle photo 5
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

Questions people ask

What plants does it damage?

It is a key pest on crops in the cucurbit family.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Chrysomelidae)

Spotted Cucumber BeetleSpotted Cucumber BeetleDiabrotica undecimpunctataDamages trees, gardens or cropsBean WeevilBean WeevilAcanthoscelides obtectusDamages trees, gardens or cropsCowpea WeevilCowpea WeevilCallosobruchus maculatusDamages trees, gardens or cropsSwamp Milkweed Leaf BeetleSwamp Milkweed Leaf BeetleLabidomera clivicollisDamages trees, gardens or cropsAlder Leaf BeetleAlder Leaf BeetleAgelastica alniDamages trees, gardens or cropsDogbane Leaf BeetleDogbane Leaf BeetleChrysochus auratus

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acalymma_trivittatum

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.