I.D. a bug in my Garden (???)

Hi all, I'm in North Florida...vegtable garden and I have seen many small 3/16" -

1/4" Orange colored bugs with 6 black legs. They look *very* much like a big ant...you know with the big tail end (butt?) but it's not a ant (or I dont think it is) I found a bunch on my squash plant blooms before they opened, I'm seeing them on small watermelon plants as well. They could have a tiny black dot on the top of there "Butts" but it's hard to tell with out a good glass. They are quite colorful. Brilliant orange with black legs. They dont move very fast and so far I have seen no appaerant damage...so far.

Any ideas what they are? Are they good...or bad? I tried to I.D. them with resources on the internet but couldnt find anything that I could truely say.."Thats it" !

Dave...Down in Florida

"I asked the Wizard for a heart, he said I needed a brain...so I set his curtain on fire"

Reply to
D.Reid
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D.R.

Have you tried google's image search engine? I tried searching on "garden pests" and came up with lots of pictures. One of these was to Texas A&M University. They're right up the road from me.

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us know what your critter turns out to be.

V
Reply to
vtuck

Google Search on "orange bug black legs looks like ant" returned this:

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Plant Bug. It even describes them as "slow movers" I'm not sure if they are the exact same bug since the website is Australian, but they seem to fit your description.

Reply to
tmo

I'm not sure but it sounds like it might be a cow ant. Beneficial to a garden because they eat other bugs. Think ground wasp. So you don't want to touch it if it is a cow ant.

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been lurking - Hi Everyone!

Reply to
Kimberly

Maybe you can find what you/re looking for @

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'View Thumbnails' to see all pix at once. 'All' option not recommended for dial-up.

Reply to
TQ

Might be a lady bug in the pre-lady bug stage?

I have quite a few lady bugs in this stage right now. They start off as little green grubs then grow bigger and bigger. When they hit the 2mm size (1/8") they start to turn orange or brown or black. When they're 1/4" in size (8 to 10mm) the black spots become more visible on a larger shelled orange body.

They were covering a cowpea a couple weeks and I wasn't sure what they were at that time, so I hosed down the cowpea with water and they all disappeared. I noticed them on a blooming mustard and I started to wash them off (they were still very small critters greenish tannish in color). However the plant didn't appear damaged. So I left the rest alone. Today I noted two of the bugs were quite large (didn't count the number of legs though), orange in color and spotted (1/4" and bigger).

Hope this helps.

Jim Carlock Post replies to the group.

Reply to
Jim Carlock

If it is a cow ant, she's right, the stings are AWFUL! The only thing is, the cow ants I remember were super fast movers, and he describes it as slow. I hope the OP posts back!

Reply to
Treesap

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