**Since posting this blog, I’ve learned that the smaller beetle is the Plataspid Beetle, native to China and discovered here in the US last October. The larger bug is the Florida Predatory Stink Bug.**
I headed to the garden today with my camera because I have a beetle on my bean plants that I’ve not seen before. I wanted to take pictures to post to see if you all could help me out in the identification of this bug. I can’t tell if it’s doing any damage to my plants and there are bunches of them.
This is the first I’ve seen a single one by itself. They’re in clusters on the bean vines.
And then I saw the most wonderful sight!
I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was accurate. It looked as if this bigger bug was piercing the little beetle and sucking out the insides.
So I got closer with the camera. The orange and black bug didn’t move much but kept trying to back out of the sunlight. Guess it prefers to eat in solitude 🙂
I found 2 dead little beetles on the trellis. The longer the big bug sucked, the closer his “straw” drew back toward himself.
I can’t tell if there’s a second “rod” inserted in the little beetle. I was fascinated with this whole process. And the big bug was pretty fat towards the end of this little beetle.
I’ve seen this orange and black bug around the garden. In fact, I squashed one thinking it was a Squash Vine Borer moth. But I don’t know what it is! My friend and I looked in books and the internet trying to identify it. The closest we came to was a Milkweed Beetle but they’re not predacious according to the book.
But if this orange and black bug eats these little beetles, it can certainly stay. Only, if it’s full after just 3 beetles….
I wish he’d call his friends and relatives in for a party!!!!
Those little brown bugs are Bean Plataspid, Megacopta cribraria.
Pretty sure it’s an assassin bug
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gminatus_australis_with_Beetle.jpg
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/assassinbug/Assassincolor.shtml
After a fun-filled afternoon and help from readers and the UGA Entomology Dept, the smaller beetle is a Bean Plataspid (from China) only recently discovered in the USA last October in the next town over. It eats Kudzu which everyone was excited about but because it’s a non-native there wasn’t much known about this beetle. Come to find out, it also like legumes and has become a concern for the soybean growers in the state. The UGA dept was pleased to hear that the bug in the photos was eating the Bean Plataspid – it had a predator. The Florida Predatory Stink Bug has a taste for Chinese food 🙂 So there you go!! Mystery solved…
Cyndi, I love your photos and your commentary on the photos. I’m glad you received responses that led to the identification of the bugs, both the little brown beetles and their predator. Your joke about the stink bug having a taste for Chinese food is choice. As a person who has to garden in small spaces (two small garden plots in two different community gardens in the Decatur area), I like to find out about bugs such as these. I appreciate the fact that UGA can help people gain awareness of non-native bugs like the Bean Plataspid, and I empathize with the soybean growers in Georgia. I have trouble chasing the bugs on the leaves of my beans, squash, and okra. I can imagine the nightmare that invading bugs can create on big crops like soybeans. Let’s cheer for the Florida Predatory Stink Bug! (I hope the experts don’t turn around and find that the stink bug sucks on leaves too.)