Pest on crop
Mexican Bean Beetle on pole bean
Epilachna varivestis
Coppery-orange ladybug-like adults and yellow spiny larvae that skeletonize bean foliage. The defining bean pest in the eastern US.
- Pest
- Mexican Bean Beetle
- Scientific name
- Epilachna varivestis
- Crop
- Pole Bean
- Total hosts
- 2
Mexican Bean Beetle on pole bean
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Signs on pole bean
- ▸ Lace-like skeletonized leaves with veins remaining
- ▸ Yellow fuzzy larvae on leaf undersides
- ▸ Yellow egg clusters on leaf undersides
- ▸ Adults that look like overgrown ladybugs
IPM controls
- ✓ Hand-pick adults and crush eggs and larvae
- ✓ Floating row cover until flowering
- ✓ Pediobius parasitic wasp release where commercially available
- ✓ Targeted neem oil spray on larvae
- ✓ Plant resistant varieties (snap beans tolerate damage better than dry beans)
Other crops affected by mexican bean beetle
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