Tiny Little Black Bugs From Flowers

Description

• Minute pirate bug adults are about 1/8 inch in length. The oval-shaped insects are black in color with white patches on their wings extending a little longer than the body. The females lay eggs in the tissue of infested plants. The teardrop-shaped, emerging nymphs are wingless, and yellow to brown in color. It takes about 20 days for the nymphs to mature into adults. Numerous generations of minute pirate bugs occur within a single growing season.

Host Plants

• Minute pirate bugs are found in great numbers in areas with spring and summer flowering plants. In addition to flowers, the pests also infest corn silk. The insect feeds on pollen and stays in the garden for as long as flowers are blooming. The bugs have a range of agricultural host plants including cotton, corn, soybeans and sorghum.

Host Insects

• Both the adults and nymphs feed on a number of pests including aphids, plant bugs, thrips, chinch bugs, spider mites, whiteflies, and the eggs and larvae of corn earworms. The insects use their long, sucking mouthparts to suck the body fluids out of the prey's body and eat the eggs of the corn earworms whole. Minute pirate bugs can bite humans.

Control

• There are no control strategies recommended for minute pirate bugs in landscapes, as the insects are classified as beneficial, cites Texas A&M University Extension.