Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs (Princeton Field Guides)

Garden Insects of North America is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide to the common insects and mites affecting yard and garden plants in North America. In a manner no previous book has come close to achieving, through full-color photos and concise, clear, scientifically accurate text, it describes the vast majority of species associated with shade trees and shrubs, turfgrass, flowers and ornamental plants, vegetables, and fruits--1,420 of them, including crickets, katydids, fruit flies, mealybugs, moths, maggots, borers, aphids, ants, bees, and many, many more. For particularly abundant bugs adept at damaging garden plants, management tips are also included. Covering all of the continental United States and Canada, this is the definitive one-volume resource for amateur gardeners, insect lovers, and professional entomologists alike.

To ease identification, the book is organized by plant area affected (e.g., foliage, flowers, stems) and within that, by taxa. Close to a third of the species are primarily leaf chewers, with about the same number of sap suckers. Multiple photos of various life stages and typical plant symptoms are included for key species. The text, on the facing page, provides basic information on host plants, characteristic damage caused to plants, distribution, life history, habits, and, where necessary, how to keep "pests" in check--in short, the essentials to better understanding, appreciating, and tolerating these creatures.

Whether managing, studying, or simply observing insects, identification is the first step--and this book is the key. With it in hand, the marvelous microcosm right outside the house finally comes fully into view.

• Describes more than 1,400 species--twice as many as in any other field guide
• Full-color photos for most species--more than five times the number in most comparable guides
• Up-to-date pest management tips
• Organized by plant area affected and by taxa for easy identification
• Covers the continental United States and Canada
• Provides species level treatment of all insects and mites important to gardens
• Illustrates all life stages of key garden insects and commonly associated plant injuries
• Concise, clear, scientifically accurate text
• Comprehensive and user-friendly

?Cranshaw, a Cooperative Extension entomologist at Colorado State University, has packed his book with concise, organized information on all the common and not-so-common insect pests of turf, orchards and gardens in North America. The overwhelming emphasis is on recognizing and categorizing the insects themselves, using appearance, type of destructive damage encountered and target food hosts as clues?. Jack Aldridge, San Francisco Chronicle

?Its very simple but complete explanations, diagrams and photographs make this the best reference I have read for diagnosing virtually all insect problems. It will make you the neighborhood entomologist?. Joel M. Lerner, The Washington Post

?This is the most comprehensive guide to common insects found in North American gardens ? and it?s presented in a user-friendly format with more than 1,400 photos to help tell the good guys from the bad guys?. Holly Hayes, San Jose Mercury News

?? you can then zero in on your culprit among the over 1,400 color photographs?. Gerry Rising, Buffalo News

?...handy diagnostic aids, a section on beneficial insects and, most important, tips for (largely) organic methods of damage control?. Karen York, The Globe & Mail

?If you've ever wondered what's eating your garden besides yourself and the woodchuck, this is the book for you?. Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times Book Review

?Copious and sometimes rather glorious photos (the section on slugs is fabulous) make identifications relatively simple?. Diane Heilenman, The Courier-Journal

?Insects can devastate your garden in no time, so you might want to invest in a copy?. Jane G. Pepper, The Philadelphia Inquirer

?I can say that it was like moving from regular television to HDTV. ? should be in every gardener's library?. Dick Crum, Indianapolis Star

"Love 'em or loathe them, every good gardener at least needs to know their bugs." Michael Haun, Daytona Beach News Journal

"Garden Insects of North America is a tremendous contribution and is destined to be a staple on any gardener's bookshelf. Readers will find it overflowing with color pictures and informative yet easy-to- read descriptions. If this isn't the one book you must have, it comes pretty close!"--Casey Sclar, Integrated Pest Management Coordinator, Longwood Gardens

"Whitney Cranshaw's Garden Insects of North America is the most comprehensive book on insect and mite pests of vegetable, fruit, and ornamental plants now in print. Working from experience and the scientific literature, Dr. Cranshaw delivers information on a huge variety of pests in an entirely engaging manner."--James R. Baker, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University

"Whitney Cranshaw is probably the only entomologist who could pull off such a large undertaking! His clear, concise writing style, his completeness, and his attention to proper illustration will put this book ahead of any other in the field."--David Shetlar, Ohio State University

"A quick diagnostic tool for identifying pest insects by host plant, Garden Insects of North America will appeal to a wide audience, including home gardeners, master gardeners, entomologists in diagnostic clinics, and students."--Jody Fetzer, University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

PREFACE xi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii

PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS xv

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction to Garden Insects and Their Relatives 1

Metamorphosis 2

Hexapod Orders 4

Identification of Immature Stages of Arthropods 6

Excreted and Secreted Products Useful in Diagnosing Garden Arthropods and Slugs 12

Body Parts Useful in Diagnosing Garden Arthropods 14

Fruit and Foliage Injuries Produced by Arthropods and Slugs 16

Plant Pathogens Transmitted by Arthropods 24

CHAPTER TWO: Management Principles for Some Garden Pests 26

Leaf Chewers and Leafminers 26

Flower, Fruit, and Seed Feeders 31

Sap Suckers 35

Gall Makers 41

Stem, Twig, Branch, and Trunk Damagers 41

Root, Tuber, and Bulb Feeders 43

Miscellaneous Garden Insects 45

CHAPTER THREE: Leaf Chewers 48

Slugs and Snails 48

Grasshoppers 52

Crickets and Katydids 56

Walkingsticks 60

Earwigs 62

Ants 64

Leafcutter Bees 70

Conifer Sawflies 72

Common Sawflies 76

Slug Sawflies 82

Other Sawflies 84

Webworms 86

Sod Webworms 92

Diamondback Moth 94

Leafrollers 96

Spruce Budworms 104

Skippers 106

Webspinning Sawflies 108

Skeletonizers 110

Tent Caterpillars 112

Gypsy Moth 116

Fall Webworm 118

Tussock Moths and Tiger Moths 120

Woollybears 126

Cankerworms, Spanworms, and Inchworms 128

Cutworms and Armyworms 134

Loopers 144

Hornworms/Sphinx Moths 146

Prominent Moths 150

Giant Silkworms/Royal Moths 154

Slug Caterpillars/Flannel Moths 158

Bagworms 160

Casebearers 162

Whites and Sulfurs 166

Swallowtails 168

Brushfooted Butterflies 172

Blister Beetles 176

Leaf Beetles 178

Flea Beetles 198

Mexican Bean Beetle 202

CHAPTER FOUR: Leafminers 204

Leafmining Flies 204

Leafmining Sawflies 210

Leafmining Moths 212

Leafmining Beetles 220

CHAPTER FIVE: Flower, Fruit, and Seed Feeders 222

Flower Thrips 222

True Bugs That Feed on Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds 224

Stink Bugs 228

Other Seed-Feeding Bugs 230

Fruit Flies 234

Yellowjackets and Hornets 242

Caterpillars That Damage Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds 246

Fruit-Infesting Sawflies 266

Fruit- and Flower-Infesting Beetles 268

Sap Beetles and Other Fruit-Damaging Beetles 272

Fruit, Flower, and Seed Weevils 276

CHAPTER SIX: Sap Suckers 284

Whiteflies 284

Psyllids 290

Aphids 296

"Woolly" Aphids 310

Adelgids 314

Mealybugs 316

Eriococcids, or Feltlike Scales 324

Cochineal Scales 326

Soft Scales 328

Margarodid Scales 340

Kermes, Pit, and Falsepit Scales 342

Armored Scales 344

Leafhoppers 356

Treehoppers 366

Spittlebugs 368

Squash Bug 372

Plant Bugs 374

Chinch Bugs 378

Stink Bugs 382

Lace Bugs 384

Thrips 386

Spider Mites 392

Tarsonemid Mites 402

False Spider Mites 404

Rust Mites 404

CHAPTER SEVEN: Gall Makers 408

Aphid Galls 408

Adelgid Galls 410

Phylloxeran Galls 412

Psyllid Galls 414

Gall-Making Flies 418

Gall Wasps 424

Eriophyid Mite Galls 430

CHAPTER EIGHT: Stem and Twig Damagers 434

Cicadas 434

Pine Tip Moths 438

Other Conifer-Tip-Boring Moths 440

Stem-Boring Moths of Deciduous Trees and Shrubs 442

Stem-Boring Sawflies 446

Pith-Nesting Bees and Wasps 448

Weevil Borers of Terminal Growth 450

Twig-Feeding Beetles 452

Twig-Boring Flies 458

CHAPTER NINE: Trunk and Branch Borers 460

Horntails 460

Clearwing Borers 462

Carpenterworms 468

Pyralid Borers 470

Noctuid Borers 472

Metallic Wood Borers/Flatheaded Borers 474

Longhorned Beetles/Roundheaded Borers 480

Weevil Borers 488

Bark Beetles 490

CHAPTER TEN: Root, Tuber, and Bulb Feeders 500

Pillbug and Sowbugs 500

Millipedes 502

Symphylans 502

Springtails 504

Root Aphids and Other Sucking Insects 506

Bulb Mites 508

Termites 510

Mole Crickets 512

Root Maggots and Bulb Flies 514

White Grubs 524

Root Weevils 532

Billbugs 540

Wireworms 542

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Beneficial Garden Arthropods 544

Predators 544

Parasites 564

Pathogens 568

Pollinators 572

APPENDIX OF HOST PLANT GENERA AND ASSOCIATED INSECTS AND MITES 577

GLOSSARY 629

SELECTED REFERENCES 637

INDEX 639