I'm sure this has been done many times in the past but this is the season for the battle of the pests vs. your beneficials so I'm starting a thread for posting critters you know about and want to share for others to learn from, critters you want help identifying, and critters you just want to share a photo of.

I'll start with some I photographed this past weekend on my citrus trees and a few on a nearby Japanese plum tree.

One of my goals as I examine my citrus trees is to identify and kill critters that eat the leaves on my trees. It's not so important and hardly possible to hand-control pests on tall, mature trees but I usually examine my younger citrus several times a week. The most difficult for me ti identify are the eggs. For the most part, I leave the eggs alone because I can't tell which are good eggs and which are bad eggs.

Here are some eggs I have no idea what will hatch:

I'm not SURE which of the above may be the same as these, if any, but here are some assassin bugs hatching and the following photo is an adult assassin bug. I think they are a bit indiscriminant on what bugs they eat but I believe they do more good than harm in the insects they catch and eat. Although I believe they are beneficial, they are true bugs and, as such, they have piercing mouthparts and can give humans a painful bite. These critters are a bit shy though and will usually make tracks for the shady side of the leaf if you get close to them.

Here is a bagworm. These critters eat around the margins and even make round holes in the middle of our citrus leaves. I don't know what the adult looks like but I think it's a small moth.

This is wax scale. They aren't a problem in low numbers but they often multiply and one day you find hundreds of these little bumps on the under sides of your leaves and even on tender twigs. The larval stage walks to a suitable tender location, settles down and begins sucking juice from your tree. It secretes a waxy substance that attaches it to the leaf and also shields it from lots of treatment types. Dormant oil or horticultural oil blocks tiny air holes in the wax and suffocates the critter inside. The wax will remain for up to a year. If you "squish" live wax scale, it will leave a reddish juice on your fingers. Dead wax scale is dry, crusty, and has no reddish juice.

Here is a shy ladybug. I think it had a criminal record and wouldn't face the camera for me. It's really very much a beneficial. If someone can get a photo of the larval stage of the ladybug, please post it. The larvae look like nasty critters but they can really wipe out an aphid infestation!

Here are some whiteflies. They also suck sap from the tender young citrus leaves. In small numbers, they don't do much harm but they can get really numerous and can be a problem. Like aphids, they discharge a honeydew "poop" that accumulates on leaves and will turn black when mold grows on it.