Sweetpotato leaf beetle
Young grubs of this leaf beetle only scrape the leaf surface into translucent patches, while older grubs and adults bite clean through, leaving round holes in sweet potato leaves.
| Where | Gardens, farmland and waste ground |
|---|---|
| Size | 12 to 15 mm body length |
| When | March to December |
Adults are broad and oval with a yellowish brown shell marked by black spots that vary greatly between individuals, some nearly plain and others heavily marked, with a domed shell that can hide the head and legs.
Grubs are yellowish and spiny and feed on morning glory and sweet potato leaves, scraping thin patches as young larvae and biting clean round holes once they are older.
Traits
Habitat
Farmland
Colour
Yellow, Brown, Black
Active
Day
To people
Handling causes no harm; it is the grubs, not the adults, that damage sweet potato and morning glory leaves.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Notably larger, at 15.6 to 16.3 mm, with a raised dorsal hump that the smaller, hump-less Sweetpotato leaf beetle lacks, and often sharing the same morning glory host plants.
Questions
Is the Sweetpotato leaf beetle dangerous to people?
Handling causes no harm; it is the grubs, not the adults, that damage sweet potato and morning glory leaves.
When can you see the Sweetpotato leaf beetle?
The Sweetpotato leaf beetle can be seen from March to December, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Cheongweei Gan, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist Licence
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Beetles›Leaf beetles›Aspidomorpha
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.