What is this bug?

I've found several of these guys in my small backyard garden:

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resemble Colorado beetles, but are smaller (about 5-7mm) and instead of long brown stripes have brown spots on their backs. One of them was sitting on a grape leaf and I am pretty sure it was eating it!

Who are these and how much should I be concerned? Besides grapes, I grow some peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and herbs.

Thanks!

Reply to
Andrew
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What you have there looks like an adult Oriaental beetle (Anomala orentalis). This is a "newer" pest in the US, still spreading, and actually seems able to out-competing Japanese beetles as pest of lawns and gardens. The grubs feed on roots of plants and the adults leaves and flowers.

It comes invarious color morphs:

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's an article (from 2007) about the arrival of Oriental beetles in Indiana:
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exactly are you located?

Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

Thanks a lot - that's exactly what it is... I am in Virginia (as you saw in my other post).

Any ideas how to get rid of them?

Reply to
Andrew

Pat Kiewicz wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@Pat-Kiewicz.news.eternal-september.org:

the adults also eat plant roots. during the day the adults burrow into the soil around the plant & eat roots. in the evening they climb up & eat the upper parts of the plant. lee

Reply to
enigma

Andrew wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@x6g2000vbg.googlegroups.c om:

squish them, or put into a bucket of soapy water. when you see damage to the tops of the plant, check around the base of the stem(s) & see if the soil is loose. if so poke around a bit & get the beetles in the soil too. they're usually in the top inch or so. they're pretty fast movers. if you disturb them when they're eating leaves, they'll drop & burrow. any grubs i find go to my chickens on the theory that grubs are no good anyway. lee

Reply to
enigma

Not likely to get rid of them. You can do your best to hand-pick adult beetles. (Be aware that they are most active at night.)

You can possibly get some control the grub stage using beneficial nematodes (Steinernema sp.-- environmentally safe, pricy) or an application of a pesticide to the lawn with the active ingredient Imidacloprid (under suspicion as one of the elements in the decline of honeybees).

Keeping the lawn mown tall, and watered through the summer is also recommended as the beetles prefer it shorter and drier.

Pheremones sprays and traps with pheremones lures are being used to disrupt the beetles reproductive cycle.

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on use of pheremones:
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Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

Reply to
Andrew

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