Following are three pics of an odd black and red insect that I found in my garden last eve. There were at least a dozen perched on a dead stick, the remnants of a fig plant that had frozen to the ground. They started scattering as I bent down to look at them, and scattered into the pine bark mulch at the base. There seems to be no damage on the leaves emerging from the base of the fig plant.
I tried looking them up online but could not find a definite ID The color looks a little like the soft winged flower beetle or the scarlet malachite beetle, though the pattern is not like any of the photos I could locate.
Thanks for the help!
So maybe they eat fruit like mulberries- any idea if they are harmful to other fruits like my nearby figs and peaches, or typical garden plants like tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini, or cole crops?
Specifically, this is Boisea trivittata - Eastern Boxelder Bug (eboone is in PA).
Mostly feeds on maple species but if overpopulated, can be found on a wide variety of plants, even fruit.
Bug hatch, help?
Just found some eggs on the underside of a Concord grape leaf, but I didn’t know what critter they belonged to. Then I found these on a different leaf:
And the photo shows a juvenile. Adults are longer, with wings crossing each other and leaving a triangle of thorax bare- true bugs! We live Way Out West and those critters have colonized anyway - living on the batch of box elders across the alley.
The above images are not any stage of the Box Elder bug but they are some kind of Shield or Stink Bug – would have to research further to see if they are one of the Predatory stink bugs. Any leaf deformities would indicate a pest species.
We have these guys. Beautiful they look like gems.
Favorite food : black widows. Hmm.
So u dont need to watch for the dauber so much as why its where it is.
Gonna be careful in the barn i think
