Two-spotted spider mite
Common Insect Pests of
Central Virginia
Dan Nortman
Extension Agent, Agriculture and
Natural Resources, Horticulture
York/ Poquoson
Oak mite damage
Aphids
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Piercing mouthparts
Honeydew
Reduce vigor
Many different
species and hosts
• Tended by ants
Aphids
life stages
Aphids
note “tail pipes”
• Monitor for distorted
foliage
• Monitor for
honeydew, sooty
mold
• Monitor for natural
enemies
distortion of birch leaf
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Scale insects
Sedentary, Piercing mouthparts, hatchlings are the
only mobile stage (“crawlers”)
• Armored scales
– Small (1/8th
inch)
– Shield
– Crawlers
– Dormant oil
Scale Life Stages
• Soft Scales
– Larger (1/4 inch)
– Hemispherical
– Crawlers
– Dormant oil
Soft scale: Cottony maple scale
Cottony maple scale
Soft scale: Wax scale
Homoptera, Soft scale:
Oak lecanium scale
scale with crawlers
parasitic wasp
adult scales
infested boxwood
infested branch
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Homoptera: Armored scales
Euonymus
scale
obscure scale
gloomy scale
tea scale
parasitic
wasp
Oystershell Scale Lepidosaphes ulmi
San Jose Quadraspidiotus perniciosus
•1/10”
•1/16”
•Oyster-shaped chestnut brown
•Circular, smoky black with gray ring
•Fruit and shade trees
•Fruit and shade trees
•Ornamental shrubs
•Ornamental shrubs
•Over 130 host plants
•Over 60 host plants
•2 generations
•3 generations
•Treat May 1-20 and July 15-25
•Live born
Spittlebug
Brown Marmorated Stinkbug
• Invasive exotic
• Causing major damage on
several types of plants
– Especially vegetables
– Heavy crape myrtle feeders
– Tree Fruit
• House invader
• Lots of stuff to kill
– Plant specific
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Harlequin bug
Hemiptera:
Harlequin bug
• Harlequin bugs are
common on kale,
mustard, and other
crucifers (cole crops)
including weeds.
• Type of stink bug
• yellow spots
http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/color/harleq2.jpg
Harlequin bug
Hemiptera:
Squash bug
• Squash bug is common in
spring and late summer
• all cucurbits
• Causes wilted leaves, low
fruit production
http://www.uidaho.edu/soid/entomology/Home_&_Garden/squash%20
bug.jpg
Squash bug, Hemiptera
Hemiptera: Azalea lace bug
life stages
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Azalea Lace Bug
• Monitor
– Overwintering
population
– Adult emergence
• Selective spraying
(sunny areas)
• Follow-up
monitoring
Japanese beetle
Scarabaeidae
• Scarab beetles
• Lamellate antennae
• Leaf feeders, some
decomposers
• Common landscape
and garden pests:
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Japanese beetle
Rose chafer
Lawn grubs
June beetles
Japanese Beetle
• Very wide host range
• Foliar devastationRosaceae
• Lawn trouble
• Lawn insecticidestargeting grubs
• Milky spore- works
selectively
• Exclusion- Hand
pollination may be
required
• Shake into a soapy
bucket
Japanese Beetle
Other Beetles
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Locust Borer
• Common borer in
black locust
• Generally won’t kill
the tree
Twig Girdler
• Chews a ring on a
twig to feed and lay
an egg
• Twig dies, larvae
develops in dead part
• Twig falls off of tree
• Many hosts
– Pecan, hickory, oak
• Collect and burn
fallen twigs
Curculionidae
Weevils
• Wide variety of hosts
• Some common pests
• Two groups
– Weevils
– Bark beetles
• Weevils have snout,
bark beetles don’t
• Weevils feed on plant
material
• Bark beetles are
pests in wood
Bark Beetles
– Boll weevil
– Plum curculio
• Common in stored
grains
• Botanical insecticides
• Not usually a problem
for the home
gardener
Damage comparison
• Small, brownish
beetles
• Some eat wood
• Others eat fungus
that they “farm”
• Systemic
insecticides are
best
Bark Beetle
Buprestid
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Mexican Bean Beetle
• Can be devastating in
large numbers
• Attacks most legumes
• Planting early can
help
Chrysomelidae
• Leaf beetles
• Most common garden
pest
– Colorado potato beetle
– Spotted and striped
cucumber beetle
– Asparagus beetle
Most common Defoliators are
caterpillars: Lepidoptera
Meloidae
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Blister beetles
Spanish Fly
Leathery elytra
“Fleshy” bodies
Occasional pests
Colorado Potato Beetle
• Orange and black stripes
on elytra
• Very, very destructive
• Prone to resistance
• The bane and funding
source of many, many
entomologists
Eastern tent caterpillar
• Control when small
• Healthy trees will refoliate again or next
season
Yellownecked
caterpillar
larva
eggs
Image from Barb Leach
tent
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Eastern tent caterpillar: pest of wild
cherry and some fruit trees
Gypsy moth
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Trees will put out leaves again
Prune egg masses Nov.-Mar.
Remove small tents manually
Apply insecticides to tents
Migrating last instar larvae cannot be
controlled
• Recreational caterpillar burning: DO NOT
torch tents
Gypsy moth treatments
laying eggs
mature larva
defoliated forest
Gypsy Moth
• Remove accessible egg cases
• Apply burlap bands to selected trees
• Check mid May or June
• Fourth instar or later
• Pupae
• Egg masses
Indicates need to treat next year
pheromone traps
• Apply duct tape coated with adhesive
• Avoid Preferred hosts
• Treat
– Bt
– Dimilin
trapping with burlap bands
Eastern Tent Caterpillar vs. Gypsy
Moth
Fall Webworm
• Highly
Polyphagous
• Loves Pecan
• Damage
unsightly, but
usually negligible
Gypsy Moth
larva
Eastern Tent Caterpillar
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Bagworm
Lepidoptera: Bagworms
Lepidoptera: Orangestriped
oakworm
Imported cabbageworm:
Lepidoptera
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/pics/icw2.jpg
adults
Tomato
Hornworm
larvae
Tomato hornworm
• Tomato hornworms are
late summer defoliators
• hand-pick, keep
parasitized worms
• Tobacco hornworm,
Manduca sexta
• Tomato hornworm,
Manduca
quinquemaculata
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Sesiidae
• Clearwing moths
• Soft bodied vs. beetles
• A native pest that can be
a serious tree fruit pest
• Take advantage of graft
sites
– Facilitates egg laying
• Beetle counterparts, adults
help
Peach Tree Borers
Dogwood Borer
• Look for sloughing bark
near graft or damaged
sites
• Larve develop in
cambium
– Overwinter under bark
– Will often chew to the
outside for emergence
Peach Tree Borers
• Maintain tree health
• Peachtree borer
Isomate mating
disruption
•Synanthedon exitiosa
• Peachtree Borer
•Synanthedon pictipes
• Lesser peachtree borer
•Cherries, peaches, plums,
apricots
– Pheromone based
– Females release a
plume
– Males track the plume
– MD causes males to
follow false plumes,
decreasing mating
Sawflies
• Hymenoptera pest
• Pests of evergreens
and other plants
• Caterpillar like larvae
• 6+ pairs of prolegs
Good Bugs
– Caterpillars have 2-4
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Ladybird beetles
• Larvae are voracious
• Adults also feed
• Probably saved
organic soybeans in
MI
Syrphid Fly
• Larvae are excellent
predators
• Adults are nectar
feeders
Parasitic Wasps
Lacewings
• “Little gator” larvae
• Adults feed on nectar
Cecidomyiid larvae
• Small larvae, excellent predators
Tachinids
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Minute Pirate Bug
• Great predators on
thrips and spider
mites
• Can bite
Dan Nortman
Virginia Cooperative Extension
Extension, Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Horticulture
100 County Drive, Yorktown, VA
757-898-4940
[email protected]
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