The minute pirate bug has a distinctive sucking beak and an insatiable appetite. It consumes large amounts of thrips, spider mites, scale (including whitefly), aphids, leafhoppers and the eggs and initial-larval stages of many soft bodied insects such as small caterpillars. Adults and nymphs feed by piercing pests with their "beak" and sucking out the body fluids. The victims shrivel after being eaten, becoming difficult to see on plants.
Adult minute pirate bugs are very small (1/8" long), somewhat oval-shaped, and black with white wing patches. Females lay tiny eggs within plant tissues where they are not easily seen. These hatch into nymphs, the immature feeding stage. Nymphs are small, wingless insects, yellow-orange to brown in color, teardrop-shaped and fast moving. Growth from egg to adult takes about 25 days. Several generations may occur during a growing season.
Found in gardens and growing areas throughout North America, these beneficial insects are attracted to alfalfa, sweet clover, vetch and daisies. |
