I was misting my Valencia and saw THIS crawling on it. WHAT is it? I have never seen anything like it. More importantly is this insect bad for my tree?









Thank you.

Its a stink bug. In the Philippines we call it "Witch Lice". They can suck dry the tender citrus branches.

I use disposable gloves, catch them and place into ziploc bags and feed them to my pond fishes. At least they can be used.

I then spray horticultural oil to kill off their eggs that I may have missed.

Thank you Joe.

The "stinker" is now dead. I know it was only on there for a few hours. I had taken pictures (detailed) for my family that lives in Boston and it was not there at that time. I was doing it's 2nd misting of the day when I saw it, not that you could miss it. So, hopefully it did not do any damage. When I killed it, it had a bug in it's grasp. I examined the tree and don't see anything (I hope) that does not belong that it may have left behind like eggs.

Thank you again.

There are two types of stink bugs from point of view of plants. The harmful ones and the beneficial ones.

The harmful ones will suck the tender branches out of their juices, and may transmit diseases at the same time.

The benefecial ones are called predacious stink bugs. I am trying to determine which one is which since my eyesight are poor at the moment.

"Stink bugs which feed on plants usually have rounded "shoulders" and long thin mouthparts in contrast to the stout short beaks of the beneficial species. Predaceous species feed on many insects, especially caterpillars."

http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/273.htm

Thanks again Joe. I really appreciate your assistance. I can't tell wether or not it had rounded shoulders. Eventhough it would be nice to have an insect eating protector for my tree, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Thanks.

I thought that it was an assassin bug and was told they were beneficial. Is there a stink bug that looks near the same and is there a way of telling the good guys from the bad guys?

Here is a picture of an assassin bug. http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/KKhp/1insects/assassin.html

Millet

That was indeed an assassin bug. they are very benificial to your plants. They will sometimes be seen in clusters of 5 or 6 at a time. They eat the other insects on your tees and should not be killed.

O.K. Now I'm completly bummed that I killed it. Oh well, hopefully another one will decide to take up residence on my tree. I looked at the link and it IS exactly the same. Thank you everyone.

Just for the record, Stink bugs are usually short and wide. When you touch them you will know why they are called Stink bugs...


Stink Bug:

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=stink+bug

Assassin Bug :

http://images.google.com/images?q=assassin+bug&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&start=0&sa=N

Disneygirl,

Great photos. How far away were you when the photos were snapped?

Now that we know it was an assassin bug, would you mind putting 'assassin bug' somewhere in the title? It would help folks looking for info on assassin bugs.

Thanks,

Mark

Mark,

I was about 5-6 inches away when I took the shots. I wanted to make sure that I got real good pictures for indentification. I'm going to keep them and use them for any future guests that come to take up residence on my tree.

Good thread. I had one in the greenhouse the other day, but didn't know what it was. Didn't seem to be attacking the plants so I left it alone.

.....Alan.

You'll never believe it but LOOK, I know I don't, but I'm real happy. Went away for the weekend and all the vaseline had melted off the bottom on the pot and I had FIRE ANTS on my tree (very upset), I don't like those things (especially after my kids got bit). Now I have my revenge on those fire ants. I found this on my tree during my midday inspection (usually between 4-5pm).