BENEFICIAL INSECTS A-C

Here is a list of the most common beneficial insects that I know of. Getting to know these insects is a must if you are actively taking care of your garden, lawn and flower beds. Just like any other form of life there are good and bad insects. The bad like grasshoppers and aphids will totally destroy anything you plant and it is a good idea to know what is destroying those plants. The beneficial ones are ladybugs and dragonflies which live on the bad insects. So we need to be able to identify the good, bad, and the ugly(whoops that's me). Through experience and making a few mistakes we can keep those roses, apple trees and blackberries flourishing, but we have to know what we are doing. This page is not the everything you need to know but a teaser to get you started thinking about what happens when you go out and spray those bugs. By the way there are natural ways to get rid of those bad insects and most will leave the good guys alone.

If you have a beneficial bug or bug story or even a beneficial bug picture that you would love to share with everyone that visits this site then leave your story here.

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GOOD BUGS- D-L GOOD BUGS- M-P GOOD BUGS- R-Z

ANT LION

• Prey on many insects which are captured in their pits of 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter


• Similar to dragonflies but are fragile and poor fliers

• Adults are about 1/16 inch long, a very small fly


• Almost entirely feeds on aphids


• The females lay 100 to 200 eggs near aphid colonies where the larvae will eat their way to adulthood

• May be confused with the squash bug


• A viracious predator of flies, mosquitos, beetles and large caterpillars


• This insect is about 1/2 inch long with a narrow elongated head


• Assassin bugs range from brownish green to dark brown

• Used in commercial mosquito dunks placed in water and eaten by mosquitos

• Noted as beneficial insect hawks because they pounce many pests including crane flies and other flies


• They are excellent pollinators


• They resemble yellow jackets but are a little bit larger--up to 3/4 inch long


• Have extra large heads with black and white markings, wings extend to the end of their abdomen


• WILL STING HUMANS IF ANNOYED

• An underestimated beneficial insect, they are microscopic in size


• They are effective against white grubs, Japanese Beetle grub, Northern Masked Chafer, European Chafer, Rose Chafer, fly larvae, Oriental Beetles, June beetles, Flea beetles, cutworms, armyworms,black vine weevils, strawberry root weevils, fungus gnats, sciarid larvae, sod webworms, girdler, citrus maggot, fleas, ants, and carrot weevils,termites, german cockroaches,iris borer, root maggot and cabbage root maggot


• Will infest and kill their prey in 24 to 48 hours and will continue to reproduce as long as there is food

Control crop-deforming root-knot nematodes with Beneficial Sf Nematodes.Click here.

• This beneficial insect feeds mainly on caterpillars, aphids, mites, chinch bugs and other pests and their eggs


• Found on soil surface preying on many small insects


• Bigeyed bugs are small 1/8 to 1/4 inches


• Have very large eyes and clear wings, black and silver in color


• Bodies are stout and somewhat flat

• Resemble the Ichneumonid wasps but braconid are more stout and are black


• They parasitize many different insects like aphids, caterpillars, weevil larvae, flies, true bugs, sawflies and other larvae


• Over 1700 species in North America

• aka trashbugs
  
• all 58 species mostly found in Florida
  
• feed on soft-bodied insects like mealybugs, aphids and insect eggs
• behave and look like the green lacewings

• Noted for being great pollinators


• These beneficial insects are about 1 inch in length and are black and yellow


• A queen bee can lay 8 to 12 eggs in nests in the ground, empty mouse burrows and discarded mattresses

• Have 1 leg per segment and are usually brown to black


• Can be 1/2 to 3 inches in length


• This beneficial insect feeds on slugs, worms and fly pupae

John Dromgoole beneficial insects video.

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