Red Turnip Beetles

I was on a trip this afternoon south of the city, walking some interesting hills at a place called Nodwell Sanctuary. A first, distant glimpse made us think we had come across some Ladybugs, but we quickly realized we had something else.

The Red Turnip Beetle is a native North American insect. Adult beetles are bright red with black patches on their heads and three distinct black bands running down their backs.

Crop injury in canola, rapeseed, or mustard fields usually occurs along field margins when beetles move in after cruciferous plants in adjacent fields are either consumed or controlled. Adult beetles normally walk to the new food source. Invading beetles are usually concentrated in a moving front only a few metres wide.