Leaf Beetle Damage

Description:

Many different kinds of insects treat the Sweet Potato as a host plant and I often come across the kind of damage, shown in my photos, especially at this time of year, the dry season. I am pretty sure that, in severe drought conditions, the insect perpetrators are more ravenous. I think that the most common pests (of this plant), in our backyard, are Alticini Leaf Beetles, but it would require a great deal of observation and photography, over a period of time, to be certain. If, however, the Alticini are the culprits, what I think I have seen is that the smaller (early instar) larvae start the damage by skeletonizing the leaves (eating the laminae and exposing the veins and other structure). Then the later instars eat all of the exposed innards, resulting in the holes you see in my photos. As if that were not enough, the adult beetles come along and eat pretty much whatever is left. I had to take my pictures today because, when the adults get to work, there is almost nothing left to photograph for a "spotting" :-)

Habitat:

The damaged leaves were spotted in our backyard vegetable plot. They are the leaves of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas), known in the Philippines (all dialects) as Kamote. Plant information from - http://www.stuartxchange.org/Kamote.html.......

Notes:

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