sbwater
By an edhat reader
We were walking through Lotus Land a couple of weeks ago and it seemed masses of these critters had just hatched. When we walked back by two hours later, they were all gone. Does anyone know what it is? It looked like a tiny caterpillar.
If you read the links it does not eat them. It sucks their insides out. When it turns into a lady bug then it eats them.
I’m backing this beetle larva.
Mostly due to (1) you so rarely see mealybugs on their own, roaming around on the ground, since they usually stick to their host plant, and the OP states that there were many of them that fairly quickly dispersed, and (2) when you look at this picture, there is a clearly defined separation between the segments of this insect, with a noticeable head from a ventral view. Mealybugs (as noted by Entomology Christine’s link below) have very modified body shapes, with their small heads very tucked under and not as clearly defined as the mealybug destroyer.
OP: Fun bug riddle, thank you for posting on Edhat!
I apologize, I meant a dorsal view. We are looking from above.
(though all head/segmentations are easier to see ventrally)
According to Galveston Master Gardeners site: “One Mealybug Destroyer larva devours up to 250 mealybug larvae.” What you saw, OP, was definitely The Destroyers. (I love Edhat; so educational.)
I wonder if the mealybug destroyer eats mealybugs? I need the destroyer!