Okay - I can solve at least one mystery for you. This is a bug (order Hemiptera) which is why the beetle websites didn't help much (Entomologists aren't thoughtful that way - we tend to specialize) but it's not uncommon to see bugs and think "beetle", so understandable that you thought "beetle".
This is a leaf-footed bug (family Coreidae) I am fairly certain, but exactly what kind might be tricky - they often look alike. The coloration looks similar to a Florida leaf-footed bug (mostly because of the little redish tips on the antennae), but it might be something similar. I can tell you what leaf-footed bugs in general do though if that will help...
These bugs suck plant juices. They can't chew and they generally aren't found in large numbers. When they are though, then there might be a problem, because they might stress the plant. But only a few aren't anything to really worry about. Now in general, these lay eggs straight onto the plant without an egg case, so I'm wondering if the egg cases you have are actually those of praying mantises - see this site here for an example... http://www.ppdl.org/dd/id/praying_mantis.html and here's another example... hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek010522.html. The hyperlink address for that last one didn't work for some reason, so please add in the http:// and www parts and it should work fine. It works when I type in the adress, just not the hyperlink for some reason.
Let me know if that's not what you have and maybe describe the "egg sacks" and I'll see what I can do.
This message was edited Apr 24, 2005 6:37 AM
