Tag: beneficial insect
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Question of the Week – Minute Pirate Bug
What is the tiny critter on this pumpkin blossom? This tiny black and white insect is a minute pirate bug (Orius insidiosus.), also called the insidious flower bug. Minute pirate bugs are beneficial insects and are excellent predators of small soft-bodied pests, such as thrips, mites, aphids, whiteflies, scale, and even small caterpillars. They are…
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Question of the Week – Lacewing Larva
What is this little critter? This is a lacewing larva, often called a trash bug or garbage bug. They collect insect molts, dead insects, bits of leaf debris, bark, lichens, spider webs, and other material from their environment. The material is woven and tied into a hemispherical mass and carried on their backs. The larvae…
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Question of the Week – Tachinid Fly Eggs
What is on the head and back of this leaffooted bug? The oblong, white objects on this leaffooted bug (Leptoglossus oppositus) are eggs of a parasitoid fly (Trichopoda pennipes), which will hatch and consume the leaffooted bug. Usually when we discuss parasitoids in pest management we are referring to small wasps, but flies in the…
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Question of the Week – Carolina Mantid
What insect is hiding in plain sight in this photo. The insect right in the middle of the photo that looks like a woody stem is a Carolina mantid (Stagmomantis carolina). The Carolina mantid is a native to South Carolina and is our official state insect. A few recognizable features of mantids include the long…
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Question of the Week – Assassin Bug
This week, the question was: What is going on here, and which one of these is the good guy? Here we see an assassin bug that has caught and is feeding on a lady beetle. Normally, both of these insects are good guys, though when assassin bugs get hungry, they will eat just about anything…
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Question of the Week – Spined Soldier Bugs
This week, the question was: What is happening on this strawberry leaf? These are the eggs and nymphs of a predatory stink bug called the spined soldier bug (Podisus maculiventris). These beneficial insects feed on over 100 pest species of insects and can be found in many crops. These were located in a strawberry field…
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Question of the Week – Parasitic Wasp Pupae
This week, the question was: What is the white-colored stuff on this beet leaf? This is a cluster of parasitic wasp pupae. The adult wasp would have laid eggs into a caterpillar to provide food for the developing larvae. The larvae develop inside the caterpillar and then exit it to pupate, usually killing it in…
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Question of the Week – Lady Beetle Eggs
This week, the question was: What are these orange-colored things stuck to the bottom of this collard leaf? This is a cluster of lady beetle eggs. Lady beetles are great insects to have around, especially if you have problems with aphids, their favorite food. Adults eat aphids whole, while the nymphs, seen below, pierce and…
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Question of the Week – Parasitic Wasp Cocoon
This week, the question was: What is this brown oval object on the underside of this napa cabbage leaf? This is the cocoon of a parasitic wasp (Microplitis plutellae) that attacks and kills diamondback moth larvae. This wasp will lay an egg inside of the caterpillar, where the wasp larva feeds before emerging from the…
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Question of the Week – Parasitoid Wasp
This week, the question was: What happened to this aphid? This aphid has been parasitized by a tiny parasitoid wasp. Parasitoid wasps lay eggs in a host, like this aphid. As the egg hatches and the larva develops, it causes the aphid to swell, making it appear bloated. When the larva matures, it bores out…
The South Carolina Grower 