Beneficial Insects A-C

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Just like any other form of life there are good and bad insects. The bad, like grasshoppers and aphids, can destroy anything you plant. It's always a good idea to know what is destroying those plants.

The beneficial insects, like ladybugs and dragonflies, live on the bad insects. So we need to be able to identify the good and the bad. 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 everything you need to know but a teaser to start you thinking about what happens when you go out and spray those bugs. There are natural ways to get rid of those bad insects without harming the beneficial bugs.

If you have a beneficial insect story or picture that you would love to share with our visitors, please leave your story here.

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Beneficial Insects A-C

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 voracious 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

• 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, 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

• 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


• 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

• Adults superficially resemble wasps, but have no stinger and are harmless.


• Adults feed on flower nectar; larvae feed on decaying organic matter, especially dung. People raising earthworms may find the manure-eating larvae to be of great help. There is no reason for concern, as they harm nothing and are rather beneficial.

• Resemble the Ichneumonid wasps but braconids 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

This bacterium (also called Bt for short) is not an insect, but it's very beneficial in killing insects. Unfortunately, it doesn't discriminate between beneficial insects and the bad ones. It's an equal opportunity killer.

• Used in commercial mosquito dunks placed in water and eaten by mosquitoes, which then die from a "stomachache"


• Sprayed on plants, where caterpillars eat part of the contaminated plant and eventually die from a "stomachache"

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An interesting video about beneficial insects from John Dromgoole.