Someone "pimped my ladybugs"

I have seen ladybugs, and I have seen the oriental beetles that look like orange ladybugs.....
but up until this year I had never seen a golden ladybug.
It looks like someone gold-plated a ladybug, cloned them a few times and set them upon my sweetpotato vines.
Is this a bug I can just dust for with sevin? Or should I do something else? I am ever patient, and I sat for an hour to observe their behavior.
They land on a leaf, eat a hole in the leaf, then always crawl to the underside and chow down. They never make more than a marble sized hole before
heading to a new leaf. They are not "tortoise bugs", for they have no "shell" (membrane). they just look like shiny 24ct gold ladybugs. My pics are terrible, but I tried 4 times to photo one.

We have the golden bugs here, too. I took one to the extension agent and he didn't know what it was. It's really a cool bug, if you touch them they will change to a coppery greeney brown color. Then later they'll change back to gold. You can catch one and put it in a ziplock baggie with a fresh leaf from the potato plant and they will live for a long time. Just keep a fresh leaf in there. It's fun to mess with them and watch them change color. But they sure are hard on the potato vine. The gold color looks just like my shiney gold wedding band. Pretty cool bug. Catch one and watch it change colors in the baggie. You'll never be able to keep it in your hand--really flighty. Kinda hard to catch. I first saw them around here about 3 years ago. Pretty sure that Sevin will take care of them. SheVerne

I had one stuck in a 2oz to-go container from a restaurant..... if you shake it up it turns red, then back to gold when it feels safe.

Fun--Huh?

Fun until I see more on my plant after my plant is holy-and-gone. :(

Haven't seen any of the gold bugs this year yet but they're here. The evidence is the holes in my leaves. Better get out my Sevin.

Haha, well, I can kill the bugs, I am more curious about the entymology of the offender. Did this bug live here before my native american ancestors got here, or was it introduced? If it is invasive, I will wage war against it ten-fold. If it is actually native, then hand picking the bugs off seems prudent. I mean, the sweet potato vine is unnatural in this zone anyway, and if it is native bugs that eat it, then I am to struggle, if it is some invasive pest that just came here then it is open season. I am not eating this plant, if I am not meant to, then that is fine. I am currently living with a bumblebee hive that I cannot contain, so I have learned to live with the stings. (bees.... gas does nothing?)

MIKE,
Gas may not, but I bet that wasp and hornet killer spray will work, ;) Aint modern chemistry GREAT!! lol Ya got a picture of that nest?

BEST,
bluelytes

I kinda doubt that it is a native bug. So many people around here have never seen it before. Maybe it comes with the potato vine, never have seen it on anything else. I tried researching it but came up with very little. See if you can find out more than I did. Are your bumblebees nested in the ground? Or are they in a tree?

No picture, but as far as I can tell, it an earthen ground bee hole, under layers of dead grass, that the bumbles themselves have to take a minute to find. My mother came over and tried just that..... wasp and hornet spray. That did nothing aside from maybe stop a couple bees from hurting us. From experience, bumblebees have a small hive, but they emerged after the Raid treatment to survey the hole about 10 minutes into it. My mother is somehow unafraid of bees, but even she succumbed to the gathering. I am thinking of putting a heavy car mat over the (area) tonight. Gasoline killled the grass, and it was poured into the hole and no result????

In the ground.
So war I wage!
About to make a black ops foray into the questioned area... with carb cleaner in hand.



This message was edited Jun 14, 2006 1:00 AM

Hope they don't have a back door.

Bumbles are dormant during dark.... in fact they will not fly without light.
With black light.... I have no idea, but here I go.

MIKE,
What I did was put an inverted quart jar over their entry hole, and pushed in hard into the ground. I suppose a can or other thing would work, but they had a BACK DOOR, and zapped me, but I blocked THAT hole, and none could get out or in, and the all died, then I dug up the nest.

Best;
bluelytes

Here's my situation....... the hole seems to be backed up against my sunroom. Until I block that I can not say wether they have a backdoor. Although I think they should have one. Last fall the basment had two bumblebees that were walking on the floor. I torched each with Bacardi 151 + fire. The sunroom is atleast 15 feet away from the nearest point into the basement. Yet the sunroom is a recent addition to the house, meaning in the last 5 years. When I poured gas into the alleged hole, the basement stunk of gasoline. It is an addition to the house and it may not be secure. So I am thinking that I should watch the basement for bumblebees. And If needed I should use Carburetor cleaner from now on in my endeavors. By the way, shoes work until they get really angry.

MIKE;
Get a large can, and flatten it on one side, that way, you can put it against the wall, and pound it into the dirt, sealing the hole. But with pic, hard to say.

Best;
bluelytes

Won't they find their way out anyay?
What pic?
On my way to stifle them agaiin...............

MIKE,
Dont know, mine did not find their way out, once I blocked their entrances/exits. Not sure about yours. Pic if the hole and your wall you are tallking about.

regards;
bluelytes

I can't provide a pic, but I saturated their area with carb cleaner, and I sprayed it down their hole, then I covered the whole area with cement and added water. If they even exist after all of this, then they better have a backdoor hole.
Or else I win!

I pulled the cement up today... got a couple crawling bees and that's all :) I dug down almost three feet, and found nothing really, save for more crawling bees. So I backfilled the hole with the clay from where my guppy pond went in, then put the good soil back on top. I guess problem solved. Carb cleaner worked it's magic again.

Oh and the gold bugs have left.... I made tea out of a can of copenhagen chew and sprayed the leaves down... the bugs died, and so far... the nicotine seems to have kept new ones from eating my leaves.

MIKE,
Copenhagen will do the SAME for YOU!! :P

Best;
bluelytes

I haven't chewed since my failed rodeo days, but I know that Copenhagen is pretty stong.
So I am safe, but the bugs won't be.