Unknown ... some variation of asian beetle? - Macrodactylus Haliburton, Haliburton, Ontario, Canada June 7, 2010 Size: Approximately 1cm long
No idea what this is...but they are excellent at defoliating just about every flower and shrub on my property. They eat the flower buds first, if there are any, then go after the leaves and skeletonize them. For something so small, they're so destructive.
This is the third year I've actually noticed them. They seem to show up in mid-May, attacking my lilies, lilacs, irises, potentilla and spirea first and then move on to other plants. It gets so bad in late June/beginning of July that the air is thick with swarms of them, then eventually they disappear around August/early September.
They're quite slow moving when they crawl and fly; they tend to piggyback each other, several deep and they are active in the daytime. I've checked online with no luck and no one I've talked to in my area has ever seen one, let alone know how to get rid of them.
I have noticed that there are brown patches on my lawn where the grass is dying and dead - I'm sure that's from the swarms of Junebugs we've got here (we don't go out at night because of it) but was wondering if these little guys start off as grubs like the Junebugs?
I made the mistake of putting in a vegetable garden this year before I remembered these little nasties; please help!
Images of this individual: tag all Contributed by bluesapphire333 on 7 June, 2010 - 12:59pm Last updated 7 June, 2010 - 5:11pm |