Our second round for March 6 is the Battle of the Beetles. No, a certain rock group didn’t break up and then come back to face off in a battle of the bands. Though some beetles are considered a pest as they go after live plants (especially if the beetle is invasive), this unassuming insect in its native habitat is a vital component of our healthy ecosystems, cleaning up after all the other species by breaking down organic matter, including decaying wood and dung. Without them, we would have no healthy soil, so it’s important to give them their space.
The red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) is a herbivore that likes to eat common milkweed and incorporates the toxins of the plant into its body to give it a bad taste that keeps predators from coming back for seconds. As you can guess from the name, it also sports a bright red shell. Less obvious is that its latin name literally means “four eyes, four eyes”, which refers to the long antennae that’s prominent on this beetle, which divides each compound eye into two. This article from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee explains this further.
The striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma vittatum) is considered a pest in some places because of what it likes to eat (cucumbers, obviously, but also pumpkins, watermelon and squash), putting it at odds with fruit and vegetable growers across the north of North America. To be honest, it’s rather difficult to find anything good anybody has to say about the striped cucumber beetle because it eats many of the foods that we plant, but the fact remains that the species here is native, and was here before we started planting cucumbers. Dr. Tom Woodcock, planning ecologist at rare notes, “the striped cucumber beetle exists outside of any notions or constructs of its ‘value’… They are simply plant-feeding beetles going about their business, making more beetles and feeding higher trophic levels (although they taste terrible and have warning colouration because they sequester toxins from the cucumber). When we invite them in by planting large numbers of cucumbers together, they can reach high densities.” There are organic ways to limit the damage these creatures do, such as planting ‘sacrificial’ plants in isolated spots to attract beetles away from the plants we want to cultivate.
Does this automatically disqualify the striped cucumber beetle in your mind? Or does it deserve its chance to live (away from our squash and cucumber farms) alongside the red milkweed beetle? Which species will embark on the long and winding road to the championship final, and which will get back? Only you can decide that. Cast your vote below: