You’re welcome
I just delt with some pesky aphids on a couple apples and wife’s roses, last week.
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That looks like an Assassin bug,a friend for your trees,but don’t touch.They pack a punch!
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Yesterday I did some orchard observation. I noticed ants and what appeared to me to be ants carrying aphids up to new apple growth that I am eyeing as a potential scion to collect in February.
I thought it to be very strange behavior. So I did a little research this morning. It appears ants “herd and protect” aphids, then ants “milk” the aphids to release honeydew. Very interesting relationship between ants and aphids.
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Yes,ants farm Aphids,for their secretions.A way to keep them away,the ants anyway,is to put a band of Tanglefoot around the tree’s trunk.
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Found these guys all over my trees seemingly overnight. Yellow Poplar Weevils I believe. I got very worried I was going to lose all my fruit but they are leaf feeders
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JLC/Brady: Yes the insect has the typical inverted arch pose and colors of an assassin bug nymph.
CLC: What kind of trees did you find the weevils on?
Most everything in my small orchard - hazlenuts, walnut, peach, nectarine, apricot
Likely more but I stopped looking after that
…then Yellow Poplar Weevil is a possibility if the outbreak is so heavy that you are finding it on trees other than those mentioned as hosts
^ scroll down to “Food”
Otherwise it is more likely one of the dozens of small black weevil species.
Hopefully your damage is limited to leaf-notching.
Note that Bugguide states the larvae are leaf miners; if Poplar Weevil, you would be able to see mining tracks in leaves of affected trees.
Bump
Ladybug larvae always have visible legs in overhead profile.
I have no idea what that ragged thing is.
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Looks like a frontal view for me.
That patch of green is part of its body? Wow it really know how to design a fashionable clothes for itself.
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Yes, a patch of green that matches perfectly with leaf color. In the first pic, the green of its body connects with the bottom most hole in leaf.
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I’m not sure if that’s a relative of the Saddleback Moth Caterpillar.They have a similar pattern but are shorter,with spines that can sting.
No, it is one of the Prominent Moth caterpillars.
perhaps
^note this species common name is in error
ID may depend on what the sockworth caterpillar was chewing on.
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Yes looks strikingly similar. It was consuming apple leaves. To me it appears more like Unicorn Caterpillar.
