Sweet Potato Flea Beetle vs Heineken Hoverfly

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Sweet Potato Flea Beetle Heineken Hoverfly
Scientific Name Chaetocnema confinis Rhingia campestris
Order Coleoptera Diptera
Family Chrysomelidae Syrphidae
Size 1.5-2 mm 9-12 mm
Habitat Farmland Farmland
Diet Herbivores Nectar Feeders
Regions North America Europe
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Sweet Potato Flea Beetle

A minute, shiny bronze-black flea beetle with enlarged hind legs for jumping. It creates linear feeding tracks in sweet potato tubers, reducing their market quality.

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Did You Know?

Larvae tunnel into sweet potato tubers creating winding tracks just under the skin, causing cosmetic damage that significantly reduces marketable yield.

Heineken Hoverfly

An unmistakable hoverfly with a long, beak-like snout used to reach nectar in tubular flowers. It has an orange abdomen and dark thorax.

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Did You Know?

It is nicknamed the Heineken fly because its long snout lets it reach the nectar other hoverflies cannot reach.