- Author: Lauren Fordyce
The multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, has a bad reputation. There is a common myth online that this lady beetle (ladybug) is invasive and aggressive, which can sometimes lead to people killing these beetles.
While this species of lady beetle was introduced to California from Asia in the 1990s to control aphid pests, it is not considered invasive. For an organism to be considered invasive it must be nonnative and cause harm to the environment, economy, or human health. Fortunately, the multicolored Asian lady beetle does not cause harm. Like many native lady beetle species, it feeds on pest insects like psyllids, scales, and especially aphids.
In the fall, multicolored...
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
While preparing your garden for planting this spring, you may have found white grubs in the soil. Discovering these fairly large, white grubs can be alarming, but they usually won't cause significant plant damage.
Grubs are the soil-dwelling larvae of beetles in the Scarabaeidae family, also simply called scarabs. They are generally curled in a C-shape with whitish bodies and 6 legs. Grubs of some species may be less than 0.5 inch long, while other species may be up to 2 inches. Some grubs feed on living plant material while others do not.
Masked chafer beetle grubs are often what people find in garden beds in California. If you find large grubs in compost, those are likely the larvae of the green...
Below are answers to UC IPM's 2024 insect Easter egg hunt! Click on the name of each insect to learn more.
These eggs belong to the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) a pest of many types of plants and occasional indoor nuisance. BMSB females will lay up to 28 white or pale green eggs in a cluster. There are over 50 stink bug species in California, and some are beneficial predators of other insects while many like BMSB are pests that can damage plants.