Bean leaf beetle

Ceratoma trifurcata

Adults are small insects about 5 mm (1/5 inch) in length. They often have four, large, quadrangular, black markings on the elytra (wing covers) and a black head (although the frons, or face, is often brown in males). Occasionally these four rectangular marks are reduced to two, or they may be completely absent. The most constant identifying character for this beetle is the presence of a black scutellum (the black triangle behind the pronotum or "neck" region). In addition to female beetles often having a black frons (the male frons is brown), sex can also be determined by examining a male's forelegs (Hammack and French 2007). That is, the base of a male beetle's first tarsal segment has a patch of dense setae (or hairs) that are thought to help the male cling to the back of a female beetle during mating. Female beetles lack this character.

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