Colorado’s Namesake Beetle is Despised Globally

Colorado is home to a variety of beautiful and well-respected members of the animal kingdom, but one of the state's namesake animals, the Colorado potato beetle, has anything but a respectable reputation.

What is the Colorado Potato Beetle?

The Colorado potato beetle, scientifically known as Leptinotarsa decemlineata, is similar to a ladybug in shape, with yellow/orange and black stripes and an insatiable appetite for, you guessed it, potatoes.

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Other common names for the Colorado potato beetle include the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, and, simply, the potato bug.

Early History of the Colorado Potato Beetle

Thought to have originated somewhere between Colorado and the Mexico border, the Colorado potato beetle was first discovered in the Rocky Mountains in 1824 by Thomas Say, but its population quickly spread across most of the United States by 1876.

Then, between 1921 and 1964, the beetle expanded into Europe, where it became a nuisance for potato, tomato, and pepper farmers throughout the continent.

The Colorado Potato Beetle + the Cold War

The story of the Colorado potato beetle gets really bizarre during the Cold War, as a conspiracy theory came about which accused the United States of introducing the pest to the Soviet Union in an attempt to destroy the country's crops.

The campaign against the beetles even encouraged school children in the USSR to kill any specimens they came across.

Genetic Modification Against the Colorado Potato Beetle

Colorado's namesake beetle garnered such a nasty reputation for killing agricultural produce that scientists resorted to genetically modifying some crops, namely the Russet Burbank potato, to resist damage caused by the beetle.