A neighbor stopped by to look at my daisies. My daisies are pretty healthy, but her daisies, she said, were being mutilated by an insect. I asked her to email me a photo of the invader. Here’s what she sent:
The photos were small but I thought I knew what the insect was (‘was’ because it looks dead in the 3rd photo!). Early the next morning, I searched for the same insect among my dew covered daisies. I saw two spider species lying in wait for an unsuspecting meal:
I saw tiny beetles:
A closer look:
There was a whole world of small insects calling the daisies home:
And then I saw it… the same kind of bug that my neighbor saw and I knew these insects were NOT the ones vandalizing her daisies. These insects are True Bugs, insect predators called Jagged Ambush Bugs.
Thanks to Wikipedia Creative Commons for sharing a better photo of a jagged ambush bug than I could:
The funky little insect looks like it could audition as a dragon on Game of Thrones but it really is a beneficial garden bug. It’s called an ambush bug because that’s what it does. Camouflaged well, it waits patiently, then ambushes a visiting insect up to 10 times its own size, injects poison, and make a fast meal out of it.
That’s all the news from the insect world this week. I should add that my neighbor was pleased when I shared the good news but I’m sure she is frustrated in not yet identifying the culprit that’s eating her daisies. So far, nothing new.
I love a mystery! Keep us posted.
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I hope I can be a Sherlock and solve her mystery. I’ll try!
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I’ve seen bugs this year I’ve never seen before, and plants just eaten down to the stalk. Gardening this season has been challenging and provided learning moments for all of us. 🙂
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I’m blaming it on all the spring rains followed by the tropical heat of July. Insects are in heaven around here.
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I have seen this ambush bug on plants in my yard. Enjoyed your post and your daisies are beautiful.
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I don’t think you can go wrong with daisies. I just love them. We had a pea-sized hail storm a week or so ago and many plants were bruised or pierced. I wonder if my neighbor is mistaking hail damage for insect damage. I cleaned out most of the damaged flowers but maybe she didn’t.
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Perhaps your neighbor does think the hail damage is insect damage.
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Interesting post. Excellent spider photos!
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It’s about as good as I can get with my iphone. I’ve got good 35 mm cameras but they seldom come out of storage anymore.
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