Friend or Foe on dill? (aka no google matches)

Hey all,

When I was went out to water this morning, I found solid black almost perfectly CIRCULAR bugs on my dill. I didn't have time to take pics and didn't know if they were good guys or bad guys, so I just shook them off and went to work.

They were back this afternoon, so I got pics, but an image search of google with the key words "dill pest" and "dill insect" didn't return any matches.

What do you think?




I did find a species of lady bug (since the ones I saw were round, I tried that) called pseudoscymnus tsugae that was a close visual, but they are used in forests to control pests on hemlock so I am pretty sure they aren't my guys.

There is damage on the dill, but I had 4 black swallowtail catepillars for a while, so I wasn't really monitoring closely. I really didn't think much else would eat dill. *shrug* Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I have no clue, but you could collect a specimen and take it to your county Ag agent for possible ID.

I have them on my fennel this year. Let us know if you find out what they are.

Appropriate container located. Will try to do that tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find out.

How big are they? They look similar to the pics someone posted of flea beetles recently.

Goosegirl wrote:How big are they? They look similar to the pics someone posted of flea beetles recently.

I was hoping the dill head would give scale, but I'll SWAG them at 1/16 of an inch. I considered flea beetles at first, but to me, mine seem "rounder" than the flea beetle pics I saw, which is how I ended up on ladybugs when I was searching.

The things other than shape that said "probably not flea beetle" to me were that 1. I actually SAW them (at 6 AM and 2 PM on the same day). I never got a look at the ones who destroyed my eggplants (both plantings
of them), so that was different than my only experience with flea beetle. 2. They were on the flowers of mature dill plants (not seedlings or leaves). 3. There are 30 tomato plants starting about 8 feet away (allegedly a flea beetle fav) and 4. No jumping that I saw.

When I go out in the morning, I will pay more attention to what they do when I disturb them (jump vs. fly, etc.). If that doesn't prove definitive, off to the extension office they go.

Well so far the extension folk are also stumped. The only suggestion they came up with is that the little dudes are immature and therefore have no identifying markings/traits. I snipped a whole dill head to put in the container with the beetles, so they are going to keep them at the office for a few days to see if they change any while they do research. For now, I am saying they are FOE and getting out the soap.

Shining Flower Beetle? Family: Phalacridae Genus: Olibrus
They feed on pollen, breed in composite flowers.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/38232/bgimage

Here's some on goldenrod:


pattipan

Cool ! I thought they may be pollen eaters as none of the dill appeared to be damaged! well done Patty!

pattipan wrote:Shining Flower Beetle? Family: Phalacridae Genus: Olibrus
They feed on pollen, breed in composite flowers.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/38232/bgimage

Here's some on goldenrod:


pattipan

THOSE look like my guys!!! I will copy the link and forward it to the extension lady and return to my first assumption that the damage I had been ignoring was from the swallowtail caterpillars. THANKS!!!

I suppose this beetle would be considered beneficial, a pollinator. Great news.

If they eat mold spores they are friends in my book and after reading up on shining flower beetles that is what I found.