Beneficials ID: Syrphid/Hover Fly larvae, Trichogramma, etc.

[applestar]

I just realized I've squished these larvae before in moments of "What are these? Ugh, better be safe..." I know Syrphid/Hover Fly are one of the good guys and am always happy to see so many in my garden, but realize now that I didn't know what they looked like in larval stage.

FYI -- here's what they look like: https://www.mymonarchguide.com/2007/11/syrphid-or-hover-fly.html

[!potatoes!]

there are LOTS of kinds of syrphids. some are a bit more 'classic maggot' than that one...depends on what they eat, I suppose. one of my old natural history museum bosses had done a lot of work with syrphids. so cool. thanks for the info, I've def. seen some of those around.










...whoa. not to derail, but I just saw in the FAQ thing on monarchs on that page:

'my caterpillar is throwing up. is this normal?'


what a world.

[top_dollar_bread]

[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/3877971483_e2633f3696_o.jpg[/img]
hover fly?? I think I got a lot of these guys if so.
& if so then [url=https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3497/3879449864_10b3b1d936_o.jpg]alyssum[/url], flowering cilantro,[url=https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/3842083029_343a4fce86_o.jpg]flowering[/url] [url=https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3842083313_71363ccd4f_o.jpg]basil[/url], [url=https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3466/3878766668_df786322ee_o.jpg]salvia's[/url] and [url=https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/3842870882_5012576140_o.jpg]flowering[/url] [url=https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/3842870854_56ccc46a75_o.jpg]lettuce[/url] attract them by the numbers!

[!potatoes!]

definitely a syrphid.

[applestar]

Here's another one that you DON'T want to SQUISH -- save them for your future generation Garden Patrol. This is Trichogramma Wasp Pupae mass. The larvae must have emerged from the cabbage white caterpillar -- the caterpillar is as good as, if not already, dead. Found while looking for the culprit chewing holes in the Lucinato Kale:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image5305.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

And of course here's another look at that Tobacco Hornworm infested with braconid wasp larvae:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image4939.jpg[/img]
and a few days later, when all the larvae had chewed their way out of the caterpillar and pupated on its back:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image4978.jpg[/img]

By this stage, the caterpillar is done for. It's not going to eat any more of your tomato or pepper plants. DON'T SQUISH the caterpillar with these on its back because it's incubating your future Garden Patrol.

More photos of this unlucky caterpillar are in [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18204]this thread[/url].

[applestar]

Very gratified to find Garden Patrol at work on a broccoli yesterday:

I can't see which one it hatched from, but the adult wasp is likely
to have emerged from one of those pupa.

[applestar]

Found more on a cabbage. These pupae are yellow... I wonder if it's because the host was most likely cross-banded cabbage moth caterpillar...?