Identifing Common Pests

[black8teen]

I would almost say to add JARG's picture of his Richter's when it unfortunately had spider mite's---
           
It helps to see what they look like without a zoom. Oh and JARG your Richter's has gone through hell and back. Thats one tough plant!

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Thanks. I can't wait for it to grow as big as my other plants. I have added the picture to the original guide. I had to scale it down to make it fit with the others, but I made it link to the full size image when you click on the picture.

JARG

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

So I checked on my plants this morning and saw this bug franticly crawling around my plants.....Anyone know what it is or if it harmful to my plants? I have never seen it before! I tried to squish it but it was smart enough to know that if it went deeper into my plants I wouldn't be able to find him...... ARGH!



JARG

[black8teen]

Its similar to the Ichneumon wasp family. A similar picture at:

http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Black-and-Yellow-striped-Ichneumon-Wasp/Gotra/sp2.html

I don't know where in the US you live but its the closest I could match by picture alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumon_wasp

This website states they can burrow into ROTTEN wood.... but I don't always trust wiki....

EDIT:I was writing this while I was getting ready for class. The Ichneumon wasp only lays larva in other insects. It also is stated to not be able to sting. There are many strains of this wasp and it is characterized by wings with many veins. I'd say you would be okay. Just squish him if you see him again. From the picture he's also missing his back leg so you have a handicapped wasp that can't sting walking on your plants. The different strains of this species are colored differently but many have the black/white/black antennae pattern you see in your picture. I would say that its okay. OH! They are also very solitary and only find others for mating so I wouldn't worry about having others hiding about. He probably just found a way into your house and landed on something that was alive. The trouble is there are more than 70,000 different wasps and bee's in the superfamily Ichneumonoidea so to pinpoint it exactly I would have to see the thing myself.

Insects used to be my thing. Now I'm a nursing student.