Over the weekend, someone let me know they saw a western corn rootworm adult. Remember this pest overwinters as an egg that hatches in June! They get confused with closely-related species every spring: striped cucumber beetle. Striped and spotted cucumber beetles overwinter as adults and become active when spring temperatures warm up. Most scouts are able to distinguish northern corn rootworm and southern corn rootworm (also known as spotted cucumber beetle) fairly easily. However, western corn rootworm and striped cucumber beetles can be distinguished by the stripes on the forewings.




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