This may seem like a stupid question, but I've never noticed ladybugs being any other color but red. I've taken a couple of pictures of what appears to be a ladybug on my crape myrtles. Can someone positively identify this as a ladybug?
The squash bug can be misidentified as a stinkbug. Both insects look similar and emit a distinct odor when crushed; however, the stinkbug is not a pest of cucurbits and is more commonly associated with tomatoes or various legumes such as soybeans and peas.
Squash bug adults (see image, left) are 5/8 in. long and 1/3 as wide. They are usually gray to black with the edges of the abdomen having orange and brown stripes. Nymphs are 3/16 to 1/2 in. in length. Young nymphs have a red head and legs with a green abdomen, however as the nymphs age the red color will turn to black. Late instar nymphs will be greenish-gray in color with black appendages (see below, left).
The spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) is a major agricultural pest insect (see also cucumber beetle). In the adult form it eats and damages leaves of many crops, including cucumbers, soybeans, cotton, beans and many others. In the larval form, which is known as the southern corn rootworm, it tunnels through the roots of young plants, stunting or killing them. These native pests have a wide range of host plants, but will readily infest a field of crop plants, most notoriously corn.
Adult beetles are greenish-yellow with six large black spots on each elytron. They are about half a centimeter long. The larvae are yellowish and wormlike.
chilehead70301 said:This may seem like a stupid question, but I've never noticed ladybugs being any other color but red.