Colorado Potato Beetle: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Tiny Builders · day 6 of 7

Five facts

1. A single female Colorado potato beetle can lay more than 500 eggs over a 4- to 5-week period.
2. A Colorado potato beetle can go from egg to flying adult in as little as 21 days.
3. Once it started eating potato crops in Nebraska around 1859, it spread east across North America at about 140 km a year.
4. In the United Kingdom, the beetle has been eradicated at least 163 times.
5. A ground beetle, Lebia grandis, eats both eggs and larvae, up to 23 eggs or about 3.3 larvae a day.

The quiz

1. How many eggs can one female lay?

• About 50
• More than 500 (correct)
• More than 5,000
• About 15

A single female Colorado potato beetle can lay more than 500 eggs over a 4- to 5-week period.

2. How fast can it develop from egg to flying adult?

• In as little as 2 days
• In as little as 121 days
• In as little as 1 year
• In as little as 21 days (correct)

A Colorado potato beetle can go from egg to flying adult in as little as 21 days.

3. How fast did the beetle spread east across North America?

• About 140 km a year (correct)
• About 14 km a year
• About 40 km a year
• About 1,400 km a year

After 1859 it spread east at about 140 km a year on average.

4. How many times has it been eradicated in the UK?

• At least 16 times
• At least 63 times
• At least 163 times (correct)
• At least 1,630 times

In the United Kingdom, the beetle has been eradicated at least 163 times.

5. How many eggs can Lebia grandis eat in a day?

• Up to 23 (correct)
• Up to 3
• Up to 123
• Up to 2

A ground beetle, Lebia grandis, eats both eggs and larvae, up to 23 eggs or about 3.3 larvae a day.

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