Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Insect QUESTION of the week!

Do you know which insect is a beneficial predator (preys on other arthropods), and which is a pest of many crops?

1

2
Leave your answer in the comments section!
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3 comments:

  1. Kensho StudioSeptember 1, 2010 at 11:02 AM

    I don't have a guess, but am curious about the answer! I see one in yard, quite often, that looks like pic 2. I always wondered what it was??

    ~Michele

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  2. SUESeptember 1, 2010 at 3:06 PM

    I don't know either, but they really look alike. Sue

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  3. Mary GSeptember 7, 2010 at 2:16 PM

    This is really a tough one Chelsea, you did not get a lot of guesses this time! Michele and Sue, the top bug is a predatory stink bug called a soldier bug. It has a piercing-sucking mouthpart that looks like a straw that it will use to attack insect prey! The bottom photo is a brown stinkbug. This insect is a pest that feeds on crop plants. These insects are both stink bugs in the family Pentatomidae. They look very similar but to tell the predatory species from the pest look for a dark spot on the back of the wings of the predator. Also, the predator has “pointy shoulders”. The pronotum, which covers the thorax of the insect is pointed on the predator, but not the pest.

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