Acalymma vittatum, the striped cucumber beetle, is a beetle of the family Chrysomelidae and a serious pest of cucurbit crops in both larval and adult stages. The striped cucumber beetle has a distinctive appearance, displaying a yellow-colored elytra with black stripes. It is distributed from eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains and can be found as far south as Mexico and as far North as southern Canada. In western North America, past the Rocky Mountains, the striped cucumber beetle is replaced by Acalymma trivittatum, a duller colored species often with grayish or pale white elytra rather than yellow.

The striped cucumber beetle is unique in that it is resistant to a chemical, cucurbitacin, that is found in plants and serves as a defense mechanism against herbivores. In fact, the striped cucumber beetles are drawn towards this chemical; this is an example of coevolution, where one species evolves a phenotype against a defensive phenotype of another. The reason they are called the striped cucumber beetle is because they are found commonly in cucurbit plants, like cucumbers.

Male striped cucumber beetles also release pheromones that cause aggregation of other striped cucumber beetles to the site of feeding. This creates opportunities for the males to mate with females.

Due to the striped cucumber beetle's detrimental effect on cucurbit crops, such as cucumbers and pumpkins, many management methods have been developed to curb striped beetle populations in the early spring to reduce the negative impact on farmers. Some examples include biological control agents and strategies involving bait crops.

Adult striped cucumber beetles have a distinctive yellow-colored elytra with black stripes. In most cases, it consists of three black stripes that span across the length of the elytra. The color of their heads is either black or brown. The color of their prothorax is yellow. Beneath the black-striped elytra is a black abdomen.

Adult striped cucumber beetles can often be confused with western corn rootworm adults. Western corn rootworm adults also have a yellow-colored elytra with three black stripes, a yellow prothorax, and a brown or black head. However, Western corn rootworm adults are longer than striped cucumber beetle adults. Whereas the length of the adult striped cucumber beetle is around 5.25 mm, the length of the western corn rootworm is around 6.3 mm. Furthermore, the black stripes of western corn rootworm adults do not fully span across the entire elytra, but begin to fade off before it reaches the tip. Thus, Adult striped cucumber beetles can be differentiated from western corn rootworms by being, on average, around 1 mm shorter than western corn rootworms and having black stripes that extend all the way to the end of their elytra.

The striped cucumber beetle pupa is around 10 mm in length. Their abdomen is white. From the center of the abdomen to the end, the width of the pupa becomes more narrow until it forms a rounded tip at the end.

The striped cucumber beetle is native to many countries of North America. Its distribution stretches from Mexico to southern Canada and is found in large populations in the eastern United States. This species is more limited in the western stretch of North America, including the states and provinces located west of the Rocky Mountains. In this region, the Acalymma trivittatum, or the western striped cucumber beetle, is the dominant species.