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Every now and then I find these strange looking insects on my tomato and peppers plants that look like spiky ants. They eat the skin of the plant and will kill it if left unharmed . Soapy water doesn't really affect them, but I've found that the Monterey Garden Insect Spray with spinosad kills them after a couple treatments. However, I'm just curious what they are and if anyone else has seen these before?

Here are some pics of one on my banana pepper plant:

[img]https://libertyportal.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dsc_0009.jpg[/img]
[img]https://libertyportal.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dsc_0010.jpg[/img]

Interesting looking critter!

Do you think you might be able to get a better pic of one? Maybe on a plain surface? It doesn't look like it could fly away.

The closest thing I've found is the nymph of Euthochtha galeator. I have doubts that's what your critter is, though, because I can't see the distinctive antennae on yours. But maybe that's just a quirk of the photograph. That's why I'd like to see a pic of the thing out in the open.

Euthochtha galeator nymph
[img]https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/1860310590_cfae3757d3.jpg[/img]

I agree it looks like a nymph. Wonder if it's some type of ladybeetle nymph the orange and grey on the backside is familiar to them. The head is all wrong though...

That's a creepy looking one!

It almost doesn't look real, does it. The head appears to be shaped as though it has a muzzle, and I don't know of any insect that has that kind of face. It's also odd that the head appears to be upright on a neck! Strange! But the lighting is poor, and my vision is less acute than it used to be.

I really would love to see a shot of it taken in the open and in good light, where all it's details can be clearly seen.

OP said, "They eat the skin of the plant ... ." Ladybug larvae are predators. Would they ever eat the skin of a plant?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll take some more pictures tomorrow of one on a white background for better contrast. It's pretty easy for me to find them. In fact, I was just trimming back some vines that had overgrown from my neighbor's yard over our fence and I noticed those things were all over them! Other than the occasional aphids, these are just about the only pest I have to deal with in my garden and luckily I've been able to handle them as long I'm vigilant.

Anyways, if no one can ID them after I post a better picture, I'll claim naming rights to a new insect species and call them "Satan's Spawn."

This might also help with the identification. These pests pictured below are often found with the spiky insects above. I'm thinking they might be the same insect? If not, they certainly don't mind being around the other ones. They have very hard carapaces and can fly short distances like a beetle. Also, when they jump around they make kind of a clicking noise. The group pictured below happens to be on a vine on my fence.

[img]https://libertyportal.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dsc_0012.jpg[/img]

Wonderful, bandito! That pic is a huge help!

Those green beasties are adult Keeled treehoppers (Antianthe expansa), and the thing in your first post, that looks like an escapee from an outer-space horror movie, is the nymphal form.

[url=https://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/hemipt/KeeledTreehopper.htm]Here[/url] is a page of pics of them.

Excellent, thanks Kisal!

Kisal! You are the bomb-diggity

LindsayArthurRTR wrote:Kisal! You are the bomb-diggity

Yeah, her ID skills are *really stunning.* Applause all around for you, Kisal!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Agreed, great job as usual Kisal.... and those are the creepiest things I have ever seen, in all phases!

I actually found the exact same thing you did on my new tomato plant. Those spiky bug things love to hang out with the leafy green bugs. They are causing my plant to turn brown! Do they have the same effect on yours?

Those posts were from 2010. The bugs are keeled tree hoppers and the spiky black ones are the larval forms of the green leafy looking ones. They are all found together at once.

Are you in the South? These appear to be mainly a Southern pest. They seem to occur in big swarms and do serious damage to tomato plants. Insecticidal soap like Safer's works against the larval forms, which are soft bodied. It doesn't work against the adults, which are hard shelled. Neem oil sprayed on the plants where they are may help control the adults.

Not sure what they are, but they covered the stems of my serrano pepper! And yes I am in the south, the most south western town in California.

They seem to have been living alongside ants

Welcome to the forum.
Sorry I can't help you with this one. I never had anything like that on my peppers, or any plants, for that matter. Must be something not in this area, and hopefully, somebody will have seen it.

If you read the earlier posts, they were ID'd: keeled treehopper in adult and larval forms. And it is a thread from 2010

PER/my research

Keeled Treehopper Nymphs

Immature Keel-Backed Treehopper. Adults are green and fly. These insects are related to aphids and suck juices from plants.

The insect labelled as the “keel-backed leafhopper” is actually an immature membracid (treehopper) in the family Membracidae. Adults tend to look nothing like the nymphs, as they lose all those fine spines and spikes in most cases.