Goldenrod leatherwing
This
week, the world seems to be chock full of soldier beetles.
Specifically, these goldenrod leatherwings are in a mating frenzy --- I
counted half a dozen on just a few echinacea flowers on Wednesday
afternoon.
With nearly 500 species
of soldier beetles in the U.S., gardeners aren't likely to learn them
all by name. But I'm pretty sure all of the soldier beetles are
either innocuous or beneficial (although some of their larvae are minor problems on fall fruits).
The beneficial species
are handy because the larvae eat slugs and snails while the adults
consume aphids. Other species (like the goldenrod leatherwing)
seem to fixate on nectar instead, but the world can't have too many
pollinators!
(Yes, this post is just an excuse to share pretty bug photos. What can I say --- they're cute!)
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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