Four lined plant bug?

Here is a link that might be useful: more info

Hi TL - damage looks the same, but the bug is not that fancy.

Help - Nancy.

Midnight I'm glad you started this thread, I have had these beasties for about four years and they are a pest but have not gotten any worse. I don't like to spray, so I try to smash them but they are smart and hide when they see me coming. Before I found out neem kills bees, I tried that on them and it didn't phase them. they have a younger nyphm form that is bright red orange. They like all my aromatic herbs, I first saw them on my oregano, but they attack other plants too. I tried to do a search and never came up with the right answer. Your picture should help, I haven't learned how to post mine yet.

These have shown up in my yard for the first time this year. They are hard to spot as they hide when they see you coming, but the damage is all over my yard.....grrr!!
the pic below is a bit different than the other pic in treelover's link, but I would imagine that they are the same and that the same bug can have some variations.

Here is a link that might be useful: four lined plant bug image

Yikes. Midnightsmum, my many ornamental plants have very similar polka dotted chewed up leaves. I thought these were done by the earwigs in my yard. looks like it's that bug you are showing just now. But how come I've never seen these things? I will have to resort to pyrethium based sprays then.

Ianna

OK, yes, 4-lined it is, mine is just greener - probably all of that nice basil juice - grrrr indeed. This sprung up quickly!! I just went out to check my cukes and squash - nothing there!! Phew!! Well, I've pull out my pyrethium based End-All. Hopefully that works - I didn't know that neem killed bees, I thought it was safe..... ?? Uh-oh.

Thanks all.

Nancy.

I can tell you that it chewed up my dahlias, my coneflowers even my shasta daisies. I searched for the culprit yesterday but couldn't locate anything. It's terrible.

Maybe a hand-held vacuum would work to get rid of them in a non-toxic way. Good luck to you all. (I've been scanning your zones . . . hope those nasty things don't show up down here.)

They've been on my Wanted: Dead or Alive list this year. They destroyed my lettuce, and would have done the same to the shasta daisies and assorted other flowers if I hadn't given in and sprayed.

They're one of those bugs that hide when they see you coming.

In all the years of gardening here in Ontario, this is my first encounter with this bug. The recent banning of pesticides in my province probably contributed to the insect 'explosion'.

what a shame they are bad guys... I think they are very pretty... in a ichy bug way :o) I have never seen one here on the NJ shore. good luck

Ianna - the minute you touch the plant, they disappear, kinda like Lily Beetles. They can't fly, apparently, so must have come in as eggs on something I purchased. There is no border anymore, not anywhere. There is a big bally-hoo going on around here about the emerald ash borer. It has hitch-hiked in on firewood, etc. from the west coast, 'they' say. Neither of these bugs are in my National Audobon Field Guide to NA Insects & Spiders. It's good we all communicate about this stuff!!

Nancy.