Epicauta spp. and others
Pest description and crop damage Gray, black, spotted, or striped beetles 0.5 to 1 inch long, with conspicuous necks and soft, rounded wing covers that leave the tip of the abdomen exposed. Larvae are beneficial predators of grasshopper eggs; damaging populations of leaf-feeding adult blister beetles are most likely where sugar beet fields closely border grasshopper breeding areas.
Scouting and thresholds No formal economic thresholds exist for blister beetle insecticide treatment decisions. They seldom are an economic problem.
Management-chemical control
Few insecticides are registered. See Tables 2-3.