Rogues Gallery of bugs and critters (with a few Heros, too)

I find I still have a few photos from our "Pests" gallery at the old site. I thought I'd post 'em up here for your reference.

Please PM me if you think I've mis-identified any of these. And if you have a positive ID on some other critter, post 'em here. But be certain, please.

I'll be adding brief comments on each of these about how to combat them, if seen.

Aphids (and some caretaker ants)


Azalea mealybug (looks like most mealybugs)


Whitefly

A few caterpillars.

Tussock moth




Horned Devil (Regal Moth Larva) (University of Florida photo)


Tiger moth (I don't have a pic of the caterpillar)


Swallowtail larvae (a fine example of camouflage)




And the swallowtail butterfly (who is a good pollinator, so if you see a swallowtail caterpillar on your trees, PLEASE move it to some other plant)


Long-tailed Skipper

Mealy bug


Scale (there are a gazillion kinds. We could use pics of others). This is on Japanese Mountain Maple.


Leaf skeletonizer (This is the result, not the pest itself)

A hero or two. These insects attack and kill pest insects -- aphids, stinkbugs, caterpillars, etc.

Praying mantis (I've always thought it should be "preying." This is the Velociraptor of the insect world.
[quote]




Ladybug (or Ladybeetle or Ladybird)


Assassin bug (There are several kinds of these, too)

Jim,

I don't know if this one is a hero or a zero, but we found it while camping in Missouri July 2008.

Jay

I don't know my moths as well as I should, but many sphinx moths have "eyes" on their wings like that. They have a large green caterpillar, usually with "horns" on one or both ends. They like veggies. I've never found one on a bonsai, but . . .

Another good guy. Lichen mantis.



Found it on one of my pines....only 'cause it moved.

You'll only see the "good bugs" when dinner is available to them. It is a waste or money and effort to buy mantis egg cases or ladybugs unless the table is fully set and the banquet awaits.

But unless you are one of those who prefers the nuclear option in pest control and sprays at the first sign of a six-legged creature they will show up if you suddenly have a problem.

Holy cow it's no wonder I've never seen a lichen mantis before. It was hard to see looking at a perfect picture of it.

I bought some mantis eggs in a futile attempt last spring to thwart some of the marmorated stinkbugs I am completely overun by.

I bought some mantis eggs in a futile attempt last spring to thwart some of the marmorated stinkbugs I am completely overun by.

I have no idea whether anyone sells assassin bug egg cases, but you'd need these predatory bugs to catch their stinkbug relatives, I suspect. Mantises just don't move fast enough to catch many stinkbugs.

You may be right as I have noticed quite a population explosion of assassin bugs. I think I counted about 7 immature ones in a small wisteria last summer, and they are usually kind of a rare sight. But the stink bug armies are enormous. And the assassin bugs scare me a bit as I've heard their bite is excruciating. But I don't kill them.

If you ever find that your tree is mysteriously losing branches, and they appear as if they had been cut with a pruner or a saw (branches from matchstick to 1+ inches can be affected), then you have "twig girdlers" -- http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1235222.

My "Live Oak" style boxwood suffered (or suffers) from them. Oddly, you all had told me last year to open up the canopy. Well, it was opened for me. (Note: Those things on the branch stub in front of my fingers are boxwood fruits. The tree bloomed profusely this spring -- as damaged trees often do.)

Many plants suffer from galls of one kind or another.  Galls are caused by injury to the plant, by an insect burrowing into a leaf or stem and creating a cyst, by viruses, by bacteria.  They seldom do more than cosmetic damage.  

Here's about as bad a case of oak leaf gall as I've ever seen (a dead leaf, but not because of the gall -- it's fall):

The discussion about ladybugs got me thinking about them. Not only do the adults eat aphids and other critters, but the ladybug larva are also voracious predators. Here's a photo of one of them, for anyone who hasn't seen them in action:



Image from Cornell University, posted with permission.

We in the Southeastern United States have a serious new imported insect pest to contend with. It is called, among other things (some unprintable) the Kudzu bug.

Scientifically, it is Megacopta cribraria. Like the stink bug (also a plant pest) and the assassin bug (a predatory "good" bug)it is a member of the order Hemiptera.

From Wikipedia: "Also called the Bean Plataspid, Kudzu Bug, Globular Stink Bug or Lablab Bug, it is a shield bug native to India and China where it is an agricultural pest of Lablab beans and other legumes. The bug, while harmless to houseplants and people, often enters houses. It is attracted to white surfaces such as the walls of houses or white vehicles where large numbers of the insects congregate." (Emphasis added.)

While we in the south might cheer that its favorite food is the voracious Kudzu, "the plant that ate the South," when Kudzu isn't handy it goes after other Legumes (pea family), including various pea crops, green beans, soy beans, and a host of flowers and trees (Mimosa, etc.). It is very fond of Wisteria.

The pictures below are from a wisteria growing on a trellis at the front of my house. I've been spraying (a Pyrethrin and Rotenone spray) for the last couple of weeks, so these are just the few that were left. At one time the vine's branches were double size because of the thousands of these critters that were congregating there. So far, I have found just one on my Wisteria bonsai, but I'm watching closely. The vine is at the front of the house and the bonsai are in the back. The vine, however, is on a white trellis, and the insects are attracted to white surfaces. The house is medium gray and the bonsai tables are brown.

The insect was first seen in the US near Atlanta in 2009 and undoubtedly came in as an unwanted part of some shipment of plants or vegetables. It is spreading into nearby states.

Like with the exotic (and also invasive) Japanese lady beetle, it emits a foul odor when touched or crushed. The Kudzu bug is slightly larger than a lady beetle (the size of a man's pinky fingernail).

THanks for the heads up Jim. The kudzu bugs showed up here last fall...by the thousands...and man do they stink! At first only saw them on the light colored vinyl siding, then this Spring they jumped my big wisteria. After a couple treatments of a pyrethrin they seemed to have settled down.
John

Neodiprion sertifer - European Pine Sawfly larvae on Pinus sylvestris. They defoliate last years needles with devastating rapidity!

Sibine stimulea, or Saddleback Caterpillar. I've grown up around these guys my whole life and avoided an incident. This morning I went outside to look around my garden after an overnight storm and in the process of moving a branch on a small Maple I just barely brushed against this little character before I noticed it was there. Discovered another within two minutes of looking around in the immediate vicinity and my hand is now hurting pretty nicely. Probably not the worst of pests for your bonsai, but look before you leap. I learned my lesson today.

Here is a very interesting link with lots of garden "hero"

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/ (scroll down to see the list w/ pics and links)

I just learned that I have milkweed assassins in my garden. Cool!

I haven't been able to precisely ID this fellow.  I found him doing nothing on one of my Pyracantha.





So if anyone definately knows him, please supply an ID. As you can see, he is leaving me a souvenir of our encounter.

Ahh spring. It's the time for new green leaves on the oaks in your yard and on your tables, AND it's the time for oak galls to show up. Google can tell you a lat about various plant galls. Here in NC we have http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/trees/note05/note05.html .

Here in my yard, on an Eastern White Oak, I've found the Wool Soarer Gall -- named after the wasp that causes it.

If you find galls on your trees -- whether oaks, azaleas, or other species -- DO NOT PANIC. Gals do not harm the tree (except to its looks). Cut or pull (if possible) it off. Gall are caused when any of several insects lay their eggs on a branch or a leaf (there's another picture of an oak gall on a leaf in this Pests thread). The insect larvae inside the galls do no harm to the tree, apparently getting nutrients from the gall itself (see the link above).

Here is the wood soarer gall, Callirhytis seminator: