Eucalyptus Tortoise Beetle is a leaf feeding insect that feeds on many types of Eucalyptus trees. Mostly it attacks blue gum, red river gum and lemon gum. The adults resemble a lady bird beetle but are slightly larger. The adults don't do much feeding however they lay the eggs for the next generation of larve that can do alot of damage to mature trees if the insect population gets too high. The larvae can be pale red to greenish gray,the eggs are orange and olliptical shaped and are laid in the cracks and crevises of the bark on the trunk and branches. One female adult can lay up to 40 eggs on a trees upper canopy, making an infestation difficult to detect until the tree is severely damaged.

Preventing Eucalyptus Tortoise Beetle from attacking your trees is difficult because the adult insects are mobile and can fly in and reinfest a tree that has been sprayed. The larvae secrete irrititants that make is less desirable to preditory insects. Deep fertalizing and deep watering trees during drought conditions can reduce likelyhood of attack, however a high insect population in your area may result in your trees getting attacked.

Tortoise Beetle Adult

Tortoise Beetle Damage on leaves

Totoise Beetle Larvae