Name that pest - eating my beans and other veg

[JFly]

A creepy crawly six-legged creature is eating my newly sprouted runner beans and tomatoes. They are everywhere!
Have tried googling a description, but haven't found the beast.
They are black with an orange marking on their back, flat, oval-shaped (but pointy ends), no wings, no pincers. Biggest one I found was less than 1cm long. They are covering the undersides of the leaves and eating edges and making holes.
Name that pest, please!

Message withdrawn

Sounds like ladybird larvae to me but they won't eat your plants (but they do eat aphids!) Look here second photo from bottom on right.

Could they be vine weevils? They are a bastard to get rid of if so. The nemasys stuff helps, but that only works on the larvae. To get rid of adult weevils that only thing to do is go out after dark with a torch and pick them off the underside of leaves. If you have benches/tables etc then check underneath them too.

The larvae are the most damaging as they will eat the roots of plants, but the adults are pretty bad too.

Ooh ooh! Ladybird larvae looks like my huckleberry. So they aren't eating the plants, but something is....Hmmm, the plot thickens.

Thanks!

Could be a Bean Leaf beetle.

I know my aunt in SOuth Africa has a major battle with bean beetles (they also eat rose leaves). Every night was an expedition with a torch to find them and put them in a jar to suffocate them.

that is very unusual for anything to eat tomato plants. can you take a picture and show us? i take it that its not slugs or pidgeons?

have a look here

ipm.ncsu.edu/ag295/html/tomato_key.htm

can you see your beastie?!

If you have ladybird larvae everywhere you definitely have greenfly or blackfly on your plants. Don't worry though as the larvae will clear them all off in no time . If you plants aren't too badly affected by the holes etc I wouldn't worry too much about what is causing it just make sure they have a good feed to get over any damage.`Any treatment you try might get rid of the ladybird larvae and you really don't want to do that. Chances are you have aphids and ants (ants farm aphids) and can make holes and cuts to the plant as you describe.

Yep and yep, BBM. I haven't seen aphids on the plants, but I'm sure they're about as you say as I found a larva eating one. So glad the ladybirds have come to my rescue.

Manky, I think it's my puppy that's been after the tomatoes, TBH, as whole side shoots have been munched away! But the ladybird larvae seem to be on tomatoes (quite young) too, so presume aphids, etc., are attacking everything.

What kind of food would you recommend for young veg plants, then?