ROVE BEETLE
Rove beetle, Family Staphylinidae (genus and species) Aleochara bilineata attacks aphids. May resemble a tiny scorpion when they hold the tip of their abdomen up in the air and are very fast. They are one of the largest families in the insect world. The female beetle lays her eggs under stones or leaf litter. The benefits of the Rove beetle are many but the important two are they eat decaying organic matter and break it down, and feed upon aphids, springtails, mites, nematodes, slugs, snails, fly eggs and root maggot eggs, larvae, and pupae, especially the cabbage and onion maggot. Aleochara bilineata as an adult is predatory, but its larvae are parasitic. To attract these beetles just leave an area of the yard without mowing and soil is not tilled. This will attract many different helpful insects. The adults are active, strong fliers. Rove beetles will hang around dead animals waiting for their prey, such as flies and maggots. Eggs are deposited in the soil among the roots of root maggot-infested plants. Larvae hatch in about 5 to 10 days and actively search for root maggot puparia in the surrounding soil A. bilineata pupates within the host and emerges as an adult after 30 to 40 days. The larvae overwinter and emerge in July, and the second generation emerges at the end of August or in early September. Adults live 40 to 60 days, and the life cycle, from egg to adult is about 6 weeks. There may be two generations per year. A. bilineata adults may eat up to five root maggot larvae per day. A pair of adults may destroy 1200 eggs and 130 larvae, and during their lifetime their offspring may parasitize several hundred pupae. Adults eat their own eggs and attacking other adults when food supplies are low. A. bilineata has been mass reared in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and Canada for control of root maggots. Rove beetles are found under debris and rocks, near water, in compost and piles of decaying material, sweet corn tassels and silks late in the season.
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