cereal leaf beetle

noun

1. an Old World leaf beetle, Oulema melanopus, introduced into North America in 1962: a serious pest of small grains, especially oats and cereal grasses.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cereal leaf beetle¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Sanford Eigenbrode, an entomologist at the University of Idaho in Moscow, is studying parasitic wasps that attack the cereal leaf beetle, a pest of wheat throughout the northwestern United States.

From Nature