Possibly some type of flea beetle. Ones on my eggplants don't look exactly like the ones in the photo, but they behave the same. For some reason, mine are much slower this year than in other years. Before, I could never squish them because they were long gone before my hand was close enough. Not so this year.

You know I looked at Flea Beetles and originally saw only solid black ones in a google search. But going back I do see one that might be the same - an "eight spotted flea beetle? If it is, what is the best way to organically make them fly away home? :>))

Spinosad did a great job of keeping them from making my eggplant leaves look like lace this summer. Very safe if you use it late in the day when the bees are gone. I've been very pleased with how well it has controlled beetles of all kinds this season.

In my garden, flea beetles did only a minor amount of damage, just a few small holes in the leaves, not enough to reduce yield. So I did nothing to control them and it worked out OK.

Jim

Agree with Jim that unless you have a really major infestation most gardeners don't worry about flea beetles. The damage they do is minimal and the plants are quite tolerant of them. Trying to control them usually does more harm than the beetles themselves do.

Dave

So this does look like flea beetles to others? The plants are very well established and are just starting to blossom so it sounds like if these are in fact flea beetles there is really no need to worry??

Not an eight spotted flea beetle. See these images
https://www.google.com/search?q=eight+spotted+flea+beetle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs

Stop worrying and be happy. It's a lady beetle.

Here is a link that might be useful: eight spotted flea beetle

I have never seen a lady beetle OR a flea beetle that is black with white spots. But, whatever it is, it doesn't sound like it causing significant problems, so I agree that watching and waiting is your wisest course.

I can't verify that the picture in the OP is a flea beetle. I rarely, maybe never, have seen them. I have only identified them from the damage they do, which is tiny holes scattered shotgun style over the leaves.

A Google search of flea beetle images shows beetles with various striped and spotted markings as well as those of plain color.

Jim