CLOSED: bugs on Rose of Sharon pods

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edevenny Newport News, VA Sep 25, 2006

I found a whole ecosystem on pods from a rose of sharon that I just harvested. There were some corpses in there that looked like mosquitoes, also, some of the seeds had holes in them and were hollowed out. What gives? A few more pics follow.....

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edevenny Newport News, VA Sep 25, 2006

corpse - mosquito?

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edevenny Newport News, VA Sep 25, 2006

This guy has one of the smallest things from the first photo attached to his side, but he was the only one I saw in about 15 pods. Note the pincer things on his hind end!

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Sep 25, 2006

The last one with the pincers is a so-called earwig, Forficula auricularia, very common in gardens, here anyway. They don't bite people or anything.

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edevenny Newport News, VA Sep 25, 2006

Thanks claypa. I think the poor thing got the worst of it from the bug majority...
Here's another bug I just found - a fairly largish spider to be in a pod the size of a pecan... I took about 15 pics - hope this one shows him off.

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edevenny Newport News, VA Sep 25, 2006

Here's a better one

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Sep 25, 2006

The spider is one of the orb weavers, not sure which. There's a bunch in this forum, you can check those out.

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TomH3787 Raleigh, NC(Zone 7b) Sep 26, 2006

First picture is probably Niesthrea louisianica (common name "Scentless plant bug" or something like that). They eat the seeds of hibiscus such as H. syriacus and H. moscheutos.
(Edited to add: those are nymphs and the adult bugs will have wings that cover the orange body.)

This message was edited Sep 25, 2006 8:46 PM

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edevenny Newport News, VA Sep 26, 2006

claypa, I think you're right, but I couldn't find an exact fit (well, duh, there are only a few hundred that could be living around here...). I have an ID request in with BugGuide.

Tom, thanks, they are Niesthrea louisianica. Most of the adults flew out when I shook the pods, and even those tiny red ones fit the bill for this bug family. And the "corpses" are probably from the spider, sucked dry.
Fascinating things we find in our gardens!
Liz

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Night_Bloom Griffin, GA(Zone 8a) Sep 26, 2006

The "corpses" might also be shed skins left over when a bug molts to go on to the next largest stage.

Every time a bug molts, it leaves its old skin behind and grows a new, larger skin. That old skin looks like a shriveled up, smaller version of itself

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