Don't squash this bug. Don't spray this bug. Invite this bug to dinner...in your garden! I did. Meet my assassin bug. I invited him with some smelly flowers (wild carrot), and he stays for good. His favorite meal? Potato beetle larvae - a meal for my new guests, and a lifesaver for my potato plants. He also eats squash bugs, and I found one of his friends on my corn this morning, looking for a bite....
He eats no plants and doesn't transmit plant diseases. Do I want to make a pet of him? No. Another nickname for this little creature is, "kissing bug," because some people (don't ask me who) have been fascinated enough by these to put them on their faces (again - don't ask me who). The kiss those people got was none too sweet! Ouch! Turns out they also have a taste for human blood, but they're not aggressive. Lesson learned early. Don't put one on your face.
He has a long proboscis, with which he stings his prey. I watched one morning, while one of them held a squash bug in his hands. He stung and turned and stung and turned, over and over, all the time holding the thing with his front claws. My bug problem is decreasing, with the increase of these little guys.
Chalybion Californicum. So pretty, so handy and not as dangerous (to us) as she looks. This is a parasitic wasp, dirt dauber or cuckoo wasp. While she eats only nectar from my garden (and I'm always willing to share nectar), she is parasitic to worms (who take more than nectar from my garden). While she doesn't have a taste for the worms (okay - stop here or just avert your eyes for the rest of this post if you're squeamish), she uses them as a nesting place for her babies, paralyzing the worm and gluing her eggs to its wormy body. I saw one yesterday dragging a tomato hornworm somewhere, presumably for precisely this purpose. Is she pretty? Yes. Is she gross? Yes. Does she get to say? The answer is, of course, yes. Worms are now one less creature I contend with alone.
I also find toads regularly near my front door and have met two turtles while heading outside. They (for similar reasons) have also joined my ranks.
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