![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gallery.mailchimp.com\/83ffc073bf0f0e2bc1c13e3ff\/images\/24818266-6485-46c7-9b7d-46374f8562cd.png?resize=187%2C175&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nSURVEY QUESTION: What’s this bug?<\/p>\n
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ANSWER: A lady beetle pupa, <\/strong>which is the life stage between larva and adult. Ladybug pupae affix themselves to a leaf surface to complete development. Do not try to control them – these are good guys!<\/p>\n (Original post)<\/p>\n All this talk about crop PEST insects should not go unaccompanied by at least a brief mention and applaud for those silent heroes, the BENEFICIALS!<\/p>\n Biological control by generalist predators can be quite effective at mitigating pest insect populations, depending on the circumstance.<\/p>\n Two of the most common predators that we see in vegetable crops are ladybird beetles (ladybugs) and lacewings. I decided to track activity of these two groups this year, just to see if any activity patterns would be evident.<\/p>\n Ladybugs and lacewings can be passively sampled with yellow sticky traps. Although, for a more detailed study, one would want to incorporate sweep net sampling, increase trap numbers per acre, etc.<\/p>\n The convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens<\/em>) is a native species. They overwinter as adults, mate, and then lay eggs in the spring. A study from Corvallis using field-collected H. convergens<\/em> found that 228 growing degree-days (above a threshold) are required for development from egg to adult, and that this heat-unit requirement is rather consistent throughout North American populations (Miller 1992 Env. Ent.<\/em> 21).<\/p>\n These graphs show a clear pattern of increased ladybug activity (adults on sticky cards) beginning around late June-early July. Sure enough, the increase correlates with published heat-unit requirements, and is confirmed by a degree-day model and online phenology tool (uspest.org<\/a>, check it out!)<\/p>\n Cool! But what does all this mean? Well, it suggests that passive sampling is a good way to estimate ladybug phenology, and could provide us with comparative data on predator activity differences between years.<\/p>\n Perhaps more importantly: recognize that while it takes ~230GDD to detect ADULT ladybugs, the larvae are predacious too and have been busy in your fields and gardens all spring!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SURVEY QUESTION: What’s this bug? ANSWER: A lady beetle pupa, which is the life stage between larva and adult. Ladybug pupae affix themselves to a leaf surface to complete development. Do not try to control them – these are good guys! (Original post) All this talk about crop PEST insects should not go unaccompanied by… Continue reading
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