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Garden Insect Photo Identification

Evidence of disfigured or yellowing leaves, delicate spider webs, scratching and gnawing, or foliage that seems to have been feasted upon by a well-armed bug battalion?

It could be your garden has been invaded by common insects that feel right at home among your houseplants, garden flowers or backyard vegetable patch.

Just up ahead, photo identify some of the most pesky garden pests - including whitefly, aphids and spider mites - along with related resources on how and where to get the bugs out of your greenhouse or garden:

Aphids - winged and wingless - are commonly found growing in colonies underneath leaves of many types of trees, fruits & vegetables.	Mealybugs - best known for leaving evidence of waxy residue, mealybugs suck the sap of some houseplants, ferns, cacti, gardenia, and more often citrus trees.	Thrips - common garden pest with evidence of sucking and scratching at leaves of many garden vegetables and flowers, especially roses and gladioli.
Tomato Hornworm - destructive pests and voracious feeders that consume whole the leaves of tomato, pepper, eggplant and tobacco plants.	Leafhoppers - triangular in shape and about 1/4 inch long, leafhoppers feed on leaves of many flowers and vegetables in the home garden.	Whitefly - common pest in gardens and greenhouses that thrive on the underside of leaves, most noted for flying off in a "cloud of white" when disturbed.
Mexican Bean Beetle - most notable evidence is the "skeleton" appearance of greens as they feast upon the foliage and leave only the veins behind.	Spider Mites - often evidenced by delicate spider webs around stems and leaves as it sucks the juice of many houseplants, flowers and vegetables.	Squash Bugs - most often dining upon squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins, while posing a double threat with a poison that results in severe leaf wilt.
Earwigs - a light feeder resulting in small holes on delicate leaves and flowers, but otherwise a beneficial predator of aphids, slugs and other garden pests.	Japanese Beetle - feeds upon roses, shrubs and trees, consuming soft tissues between veins and leaving a lace-like skeleton. (See Mexican Bean Beetle.)	Cucumber Beetle - a common pest of cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and melon leaves and fruit, they will also consume beans, corn, peanuts, and potatoes.

More about garden bug identification around the Web:

Bugfiles - Identifying Bugs & Insects with Pictures - Dave's Garden - Extensive photo library searchable by name or species, or browseable in an alphabetical list.

North American Insects and Spiders - Tree Encyclopedia - Excellent online photo library with hi-res photos and helpful information on the habits and natural history of bees, wasps, ants, beetles, flies, spiders, grasshoppers, moths, butterflies and more.

Garden Pest Identification Websites - About.com guide with a mini-directory of top resources offering photos and information on a variety of common garden insect pests.

Plant Pest Identification Aid - Full color, hi-resolution images of the most damaging garden insects with descriptions of physical appearance and related damage to trees, flowers and vegetables, with more on beneficial insects that are good to have around the garden.

also see -> Home Recipes to Get Rid of Bugs & Garden Pests

How to Get Rid of Ants

Also see specific vegetable garden bugs, pests & diseases:

		Bean Pests		Lettuce Pests		Spinach Pests
		Carrot Pests		Pea Pests		Tomato Pests
		Corn Pests		Pepper Pests
		Cucumber Pests		Pumpkin Pests

also see in House & Home Pest Control