Friend or Foe #5

Please forgive the fuzziness here, but the zooming was a lot! I hope the coloration of this guy will give enough info to determine Friend or Foe, please? He was on this sedum with a bunch of mating soldier bugs.

I wanted to mention that I started a thread over in the Photos forum for cool bug & flower pics. Please share your favorites! :-)

sorry mickgene i don't have a clue!

neat, critter!

mickgene - I'm pretty sure that is an Ailanthus webworm moth (Atteva punctella). According to my moth book, the caterpillar eats Ailanthus and paradise tree. They make communal webs. Unless you have noticed them, they likely aren't a problem.

I thought I'd try something a little different this time while I try to come up with a new "good guy" insect that I haven't already posted. I sometimes get questions about things like what I'll show you here. Does anyone know what this is?

If you don't know, take a guess. And is it a good thing or a bad thing?

This message was edited Sep 10, 2005 3:16 AM

hmm., looks like something living in a disguised mudhole. must be a predator of some sort. so I will guess "Friend"

NB- what is the size of that "thing"?

Thank you, NB. Since I pull out every Ailanthus tree I find, I'll leave them alone to do their damage and help me out!

This lady is making her home im my pumpkin trellis... who is she?

ANd this guy was on my Tomaotes -- although I have seen him a few times (other there are a few of his brothers around)

Cut that last one in the tummy with scissors. There are no good hoppers to a farmers offspring. My DGM always had a pair in her pocket. What is that fungi above and is it foe?
sidney

That pile looks like a nest of some sort? maybe a wasp... Tell us!

-Kim

If it were in a marsh, I'd say fiddler crab! LOL

I'm with Kim, going to guess wasp or bee...

i wonder if the thing in the nest is something like a hunting spider?

mysticwill, your spider is very good! a huntsman! they don't even bite :-) we get them all the time here. the first one i ever found was as big as my hand. took 1/1/2 hours to catch it from the bathroom/laundry area, searched on internet for five hours to ID it LOL. Now I'm an expert, just take to cups in, one behind it, then when you put the other in front, they turn and run in the one behind! outside they go to help in the garden!

but sidney is so right! you get many of those, you will have to start pickin gyour tomatoes orange or they will be eaten! we go out three times a day and catch them in butterfly nets to feed to our new guinea chicks.

You go TF! ;)

Guinea chicks! I have one poor old surviving male guinea I need to find a home for. We have a coop and feed that have been attracting rats lately. But I love having him around. DH wants to get more guineas, but all I see is more rats if we go that route. Any suggestions? I've thought about just letting him fend for himself foodwise with plants and bugs. I know other people who don't provide extra food. How about you, TamaraFaye?

They will do just fine free range. The more bugs the better. Put an end to ticks. I'd get D-con for the rodents and do away with guinea food. Trois had one vanish this year that was their watch bird.
sidney

Nightbloom, Looks like dog food to me---I guess it's good if you have a dog!!!!:^)

Wouldn't it be funny if Night_Bloom posted a pic of a piece of concrete that was on the ground? I'm not suggesting she would, but I'll bet that she gets some pics for ID in her job that really baffle her to the point of wondering if the folks are just funning with her. ;)

I wanna guess a ground bee's nest.

mysticwill, I think TamraFaye is pretty close with huntsman spider. I'll try to find the scientific name for you later. As for the grasshopper, I wouldn't be able to tell you what kind. I'm bad with grasshoppers.


And hee, TuttiFrutti, you have no idea. Some of the pics I get are truly baffling, and every once in a while I just have to admit defeat. I'll be good and not make you guys guess on this one anymore. Here's the answer...

This particular picture is my own, but is a pretty good one of the phenomenon from similar pictures I have received as well as a few phone calls that generally start as "I have these small piles of droppings all over my lawn..." and ineveitable ending with, "how do I get rid of them?"

The answer is... you don't. The little round things mounded in the picture are earthworm leavings (droppings), so those of you who guessed wasp diggings were somewhat close. Of course since worms are beneficial critters, I end of trying to explain this to the homeowners complaining of the little "piles" in their lawn.

My particular picture was taken with a background of moss, because much of my "lawn" - or at least what part is lawn and not weeds - generally doesn't allow access for the worms to pop out, because the greenery is too close together, and/or not moist enough to be worm friendly, or would make it difficult to get a good picture. The moss there provided a nice flat background for the worm droppings.

I'll try to come up with another "mystery" in the future.

And hee, barbur, about the dog food.

Night_Bloom, Is that the same as worm castings?

barbur: Yes castings is prehaps a better word - I knew there was a word that I was looking for.

Those are what the worm leaves behind when it comes to the surface. Since the worm actually does eat some of the earth/soil as it burrows through - meaning the worm is a geophage - I assume that the round "pellets" are as much "droppings" as they are disturbed earth. I think the fact that the dirt passes through the worm actually helps to make it more fertile.

Anyone know for sure? Maybe critterologist?

I always thought one of the benefits of having plenty of earthworms in your soil was because the earthworm was aerating the soil by moving through and making tunnels, if you will. It would be nice to know they are also making it more fertile!

-Kim

Yes, the castings are droppings, according to what I've read. You can buy them for fertilizer, but they're quite expensive for the amount you need in a decent garden. I think drdon uses them a lot. I have a small bag in the basement that I've been hoarding and must remember to use.

The worm isn't "eating" the dirt so much as it is eating all the little bits of organic matter in the dirt. And yes, when the dirt leaves the worm as castings, it carries some very good fertilizer with it. The kids on my block will tell you that "worm poop is the best fertilizer!" They know worms are good for the garden, and when they see one on the sidewalk now, they pick it up & drop it into my front bed. They also squish grubs & slugs. :-)

SOS!!! I have a small black bug eating the calyx/blossom of some plants, my favorites, of course. The bug is almost shiny black and looks like a black piece of wild rice, which is more slender than white rice. It is less than 1/2 inch long, or maybe about that size. I sprayed 'flying insect' killer on some yesterday, but I'd like to use something like neem to spray all. Or, should I just spray the ones that have them, I don't want them to destroy all my blossoms. I thought they were gnats, but they don't fit that description but I do think they fly, at least a little. Thanks!!! I cannot spray some until the sun is off them but I have others that i could spray right now if I knew what they were. Sherry

This message was edited Sep 12, 2005 3:08 PM

re: the mystery pic: in my previous post I was going to say "looks like a pile of poop to me!" but I didn't want you all to think I was crude! ;->

Sherry - without a picture, I would be hard pressed to even guess what you have. If it were me, I wouldn't spray all my flowers and plants though. Many pests are very specific to one type of host, so spraying might only serve to kill your good insects - including bees, butterflies, etc who come to visit your plants and flowers.

You might want to take a few of your insects to your local extension office to see if they can identify them and give you some advice.

Thanks, Night!! Seems like I don't have as many as my neighbors do, I really just have them on two plants. I tried DE on those plants and a few nearby and several other things directly on the bugs, that didn't faze them, but they are not as active today. I have to be outta town but will try to get a photo because I've never see anything like these and I just cannot imagine a flying bug that isn't fazed by Raid for flying insects. I was also trying to rustle up someone else that's had these pests and hope, sooner or later, I'll find someone. Thanks!!!

As far as Grasshoppers: I have a pet bass, I net the hopper and the bass eats them up.

got to brag, yesaterdya evening i got four in the net at once! then found out that a little before sundown the g-hooppers get real slow. we (I) caught foryt yesrtday evening and thrity or so this evening.

we got a couple of locusts I think as ewll, adn a cricket (thought i think of crickets as good guys)

now and then i see one bright green with really long atennae and a slightly different, slender body shape... is this a snowy tree cricket?

today we came across a pryaing mantis and a walking stick. i moved them so they don't get mowed down. hope guineas don't eat the good duys!!!???

Snow crickets are smaller and more slender than regular crickets. They have a rather pretty call, and will often sing when it is too cool for regular crickets. You might be able to find a picture of one at Bugguide - the search function is back on again.

thanks, & I thought all crickets wree black/brown!

I had a wonderful morning, I saw 3 spiders eating those mean, leaf green, aggressive cats and I am so happy, what a nice way to start the day. I'm not only happy the spiders are doing their work, I'm so please I haven't killed the good guys with some of my sprays...

you should have heard me yesterday to my seven year old son "Don't play in your rocket ship, there's an Orange Orb Spider making a web!

I've always heard spiders eat the bad guys, but I never had the chance to see it until today!! 'My' spider has a huge round rear and sorta a big head and all the other stuff, they aren't big, but big enough to heat those horrid cats!!! My kids like spiders too, despite my oldest son being bitten by a brown recluse when he was just 6, never saw one before or again, and it was not as awful as we expected, in fact it was rather minor....

I think I know who this is, but can some one confirm that this is a good guy,

And how about this one? I'm not sure about it. I thought it was a wheel bug, but now not so sure.

Here's one more of that guy. Any thoughts.

don't know about hte first, but the second is certainly a FOE! Leaf -footed bug. search on www.bugguide.net to see the variations...

Could the first one be a milkweed assasin bug? If so, I think he's a good guy! http://bugguide.net/node/view/4832

Edited to change link. :)

This message was edited Sep 15, 2005 7:38 PM