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Margined leatherwing beetle (Coleoptera), also called goldenrod soldier beetle, Chauliognathus, on garlic chives (Allium). Adults feed on nectar and pollen; larvae possibly feed on corn earworms and root maggots
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High resolution image available.
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Spiders (Aranae) are beneficial predators. Here, only the web is visible on a spruce (Picea), but the spider's probable location is obvious.
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High resolution image available.
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Close-up of yellow lady beetle eggs (Coleoptera) with their future victim, an aphid (Hemiptera), on a tomato leaf (Lycopersicon)
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High resolution image available.
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Minute black scavenger fly (Diptera); these insects may congregate in large numbers on compost piles but are benign and simply part of the decay process
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High resolution image available.
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A wheel bug, Arilus cristatus, is so called because of the semi-circular cog on its back that resembles a cogged wheel. Like other assassin bugs (Hemiptera) they eat other insects and their eggs
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High resolution image available.
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Wheel bugs (Hemiptera), Arilus cristatus, are especially fond of caterpillars which they stab with their sharp beak and suck out the body fluids
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High resolution image available.
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Antlions (Neuroptera) are voracious predators that lie in wait for their victims, usually under loose soil, although sometimes in trees.
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High resolution image available.
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Some antlions called doodlebugs (Neuoroptera) dig a conical pit in loose sand to trap prey. Note, the enornous mandibles on this specimen used to eat ants and other insects.
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High resolution image available.
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The white cocoons visible on the back of this tobacco hornworm (Lepidoptera) are braconid wasps (Hymenoptera) that have eaten the hornworm alive
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High resolution image available.
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The white cocoons on the back of this tobacco hornworm (Lepidoptera) are braconid wasps (Hymenoptera) that have eaten the hornworm alive
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High resolution image available.
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Tobacco hornworm (Lepidoptera) on tomato (Lycopersicon) with parasitic braconid wasps (Hymenoptera) in the white cocoons on its back
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High resolution image available.
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If you see a mass of eggs like this, leave it where it is. Wheel bugs (Hemiptera), Arilus cristatus, are beneficial insects that are especially fond of caterpillars
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High resolution image available.
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Some lacewing larvae (Neuroptera) stick the bodies of the victims to their backs, making them look like moving piles of debris.
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High resolution image available.
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European paper wasp (Hymenoptera)--Polistes dominulus-- often mistaken for a yellow jacket, but note unique orange antennae. Adults feed on nectar; larvae are fed caterpillars and other insects.
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High resolution image available.
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Even indoors, spiders (Araneae) can be beneficial; this one has caught difficult-to-control whiteflies (Hemiptera) on crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii)
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High resolution image available.
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Even indoors, spiders (Araneae) can be beneficial; this one has caught difficult-to-control whiteflies (Hemiptera) on crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii)
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High resolution image available.
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Braconid wasps (Hymenoptera) are an important natural control of hornworms on tomato (Lycopersicon); note white eggs along back of caterpillar (Lepidoptera)
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High resolution image available.
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Rosie, a praying mantis (Dictyoptera),spent the entire summer in a hanging basket of kalanchoe (Kalanchoe and moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora); long enough to be named
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High resolution image available.
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Rosie, a praying mantis (Dictyoptera), spent the entire summer in a hanging basket of kalanchoe (Kalanchoe and moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora); long enough to be named
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High resolution image available.
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Green lacewing larva (Neuroptera), some of which are called aphid lions, not only eat aphids, but also eat other soft-bodied pests
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High resolution image available.
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This common house centipede (Chiropoda) is not an insect--it has 15 pairs of legs--but it can be considered beneficial as its primary food is small household insects
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High resolution image available.
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Potter wasps (Hymenoptera) rarely sting and are predators of caterpillars and beetle larvae, which they catch and then paralyze for their own larvae to feed on.
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High resolution image available.
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