The Cereal leaf beetle is an insect pest that is native to Europe, but has caused significant problems in North Carolina in recent years. The beetle was first detected in Michigan in 1962 and has spread throughout most of the eastern United States since. Larva are very small when newly hatched and grow to size slightly longer than the adult.
Larva are slug like and covered with a black mucous and fecal matter covering.
This matter stains clothing of persons walking through infested fields. The adult beetles overwinter in vegetation and wooded areas adjacent to last years small grain fields. The adults emerge and lay eggs in the spring, around mid April. The larva hatch and begin to consume the leaf material of the small grain crop. As the larva grows, the amount of damage may be extreme.