greetings,
i went out to check my tomatoes this morning and noticed that my cherry tom plant was stripped of leaves. my first thought was hornworm, there were bug droppings everywhere.

what i found were several beetles happily munching on the leaves of all three plants.

these bugs are about an inch long, (dark) greyish silver. no obvious line down the back for wings. i've been going thru my bug books and on line to find a picture/name and i have been unsuccessful.

i sprayed them with soapy water and put one in a cup to bring inside to get a good look at it. does any one have an idea of what they are and how to prevent them in the future?

thanks.

Blister beetles will defoliate tomato plants. And many other plants. Here is a quick text and then a pic - only representative of a few styles of blister beetle -

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals...r_beetle/index.shtml

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_hfrr/extensn/problems/blister.htm

thanks! i was beginning to suspect some sort of blister beetle from looking at pics of other varities. the ksu link has a pic of it.

thanks for your help