The oviposition behavior ofDisonycha pluriligatain relation to food plants for larvae was considered a critical link between generations in the life history of this beetle relative to its population dynamics. Therefore, we undertook studies to clarify female behavior before and during oviposition and the consequences for larval establishment on the host plant,Salix exigua.Field studies showed that females dig depressions in the soil, into which they lay a clutch of eggs, with some clutches covered with soil and others left uncovered. Therefore, first-instar larvae had to find host plants and started feeding low on the foliage. An experiment using caged adults on potted willows showed that females always feed and copulate before oviposition, and they lay eggs up to 15 cm away from a plant, which was the maximum radius available in the pots. In petri dishes, females oviposited in soil, on paper towel, and on bare plastic. Females demonstrated a relatively indiscriminate oviposition behavior, leaving larvae to forage independently for host plants. We hypothesize that this lack of linkage between ovipositional preference and larval performance places strong selective pressure on larvae to be relatively indiscriminate feeders, predisposing them to be generally able to eat any quality of leaves in a stand of willows and, as a consequence, to be damaging and eruptive in their population dynamics.