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Ladybugs are beneficial insects. Ladybugs are also known as lady beetles. Adult and young ladybugs also eat asparagus beetle larvae, Colorado potato beetle larvae, lace bugs, mealybugs, Mexican bean beetle larvae, scale, spider mites, whiteflies, and the eggs of several insects. One ladybug can eat 5,000 pest aphids in its lifetime. The ladybug is also…
Praying mantids (plural praying mantis) are mostly beneficial insects. Praying mantids eat aphids, asparagus beetles, caterpillars, Colorado potato beetles, earwigs, leafhoppers, Mexican bean beetles, and squash bugs. Praying mantids also eat beneficial insects, butterflies, and bees. The praying mantid is a beneficial insect sometimes known as the “destroyer of other insects.” Praying mantises eat an…
Green lacewings are beneficial insects. Adult lacewings feed on nectar, pollen, and aphid honeydew. Young, larvae lacewings feed on the eggs and immature stages of many soft-bodied insect pests including aphids, asparagus beetle larvae, caterpillar eggs and young caterpillars, Colorado potato beetle larvae, spider mites, thrips, whiteflies, leafhoppers, and the eggs of pest moths and…
Assassin bugs are beneficial insects. There are hundreds of species of assassin bugs. Assassin bugs feed on aphids, cabbage worms, Colorado potato beetles, cucumber beetles, cutworms, earwigs, Japanese beetles, lace bugs, Mexican bean beetles, tobacco budworms, tomato hornworms, and many other caterpillars. Assassin bugs are best observed than handled. An assassin bug will attack the…
The big-eyed bug is a beneficial insect. The adult big-eyed bug and the big-eyed larva eat garden pests including aphids, cabbage loopers, caterpillars, chinch bugs, flea beetles, leafhoppers, Mexican bean beetles, spider mites, thrips, whiteflies, and the eggs of aphids, corn earworms, and mites. Big-eyed bugs are common in Western North America. Scientific name: Genus…
Parasitic wasps are small, even minute, mini-wasps that control pests including many garden pests. Parasitic wasps kill their hosts by feeding on them. Pests controlled by parasitic wasps include aphids, beetles, caterpillars, flies, sawflies, and scale insects. Notable parasitic wasps are the Braconid wasp, the Chalcid wasp, the Ichneumon wasp, and the Trichogramma wasp. Parasitic…
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