Meet
the Air Potato Leaf Beetle
Learn more about the air potato leaf beetle.
Solutions for Your Life
UF/IFAS Extension maintains an easy-to-use, comprehensive Web site, Solutions for Your Life.
Resources
How to recognize the beetle
Adults:
The adults of the air potato beetle
are
about 3/8 inch long and 3/16 inch wide. The wings are red, and the
abdomen, thorax, head, and legs are black. The body shape somewhat
resembles a square violin with a short neck.
Photo Credits:
Overholt, W.
Eggs:
Eggs
are white and laid in groups on the underside of leaves. They are 1/32
inch long and hatch after four days.
Photo Credits:
Overholt, W.
Larvae:
Early
instars are yellowish to reddish, and later instars are grayish to
reddish. Larvae are often covered with a sticky secretion to which
fecal material adheres.
Pupae:
Fully grown larvae enter the soil and form a cocoon that is about 17/64 inch
in length.
Photo Credits:
Overholt, W.
Photo Credits:
Overholt, W.
Biology and ecology of the beetle
The life cycle of the
beetle begins when the female lays eggs on the underside of air potato
leaves. Females lay an average of 1800 eggs but in some cases up to
4300. After four days, eggs hatch and larvae begin feeding in
aggregations. When fully grown, larvae descend to the soil where they
produce an oral secretion that hardens into a foam-like cocoon.
Adults emerge after 12 to 16 days, and can live for five months or
longer. The life cycle from egg to adult takes 30 days at 77o
F. Both adults and larvae feed on the foliage of air potato.
Photo Credits:
Overholt, W.
Larvae can often be found in
aggregations on the growing tips of air potato vines. The vine dies
back during the winter, forcing the adult beetles to go several months
without food, presumably in a resting state beneath leaf litter and
other debris. The overwintered adults emerge in the spring, and
females begin laying eggs.
The
beetle only attacks Air Potato
Extensive host range testing by scientists at the USDA/ARS Invasive
Plant Research Laboratory in Fort Lauderdale demonstrated that the air
potato leaf beetle is a specialist feeder on air potato. It will not
complete development on any other plant found in Florida and is only
known to feed on
Dioscorea bulbifera in its native range (Pemberton and
Witkus 2010).
Damage to Air Potato
Larvae and adults of the air potato leaf beetle consume leaf tissue
and occasionally feed on bulbils, thereby negatively affecting plant
growth and reproduction. Damage to growing tips inhibits vine
elongation and may reduce the ability of air potato to climb vertical
structures. At initial release sites, extensive damage to air potato
was evident within three months after the first release.
More information about the beetle:
- Biology and ecology of
the air potato beetle:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/in/in97200.pdf
Scientific Publications
- Overwintering and host
range tests of the air potato beetle:
Center, T. D.,
Rayamajhi, M., Dray, F. A., Madeira, P. M., Witkus, G., Rohrig, E.,
Mattison, E., Lake, E., Smith, M., Zhang, J. Purcell, M.,
Konstantinov, A. and Schmitz D.
2013.
Host range validation, molecular identification and release and
establishment of a Chinese biotype of the Asian leaf beetle
Lilioceris cheni (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) for
control of Dioscorea bulbifera L. in the southern United
States.
Biocontrol Science and
Technology, 23: 735-755.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09583157.2013.790931#.U-EhjhFOUeg
- More details on host range tests of the air potato beetle:
Pemberton, R. W. and Witkus, G. L. 2010.
Laboratory host range testing of Lilioceris sp. near
impressa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) – a potential biological
control agent of air potato, Dioscorea bulbifera
(Dioscoreaceae). Biocontrol
Science and Technology, 20: 567–587.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09583150903531332
- Description of adults
and biology in native range:
Tishechkin, A.K., Konstantinov, A.S., Bista, S., Pemberton, R.W., and Center
T.D. 2011.
Review of the continental Oriental species of
Lilioceris Reitter (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Criocerinae) closely
related to
Lilioceris
impressa (F.).
ZooKeys,
103: 63-83.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3131069/