home | spring garden | waterfall, pool & stream garden

Damsel Bug

Damsel bugs are beneficial to farmers. Adults are quick and aggressive. They feed on aphids, moth eggs, and caterpillars by draining their body fluids. These mature insects are slender and tan. Their large front legs help them hold on to their prey. They actually get their name from their front legs looking as though they are holding up their skirt to glide across a dance floor. Adults lay eggs after they emerge in the spring from their winter shelter. Eggs are found in soft tissues of plants. Nymphs, or immature damsel bugs, resemble the mature adults but do not have wings. These nymphs eat other insect eggs and small insects. You can find damsel bugs livings in low growing plants.

Damsel bug eggs on a stem Photo by Jack Kelly Clark, used with permission from the UC Statewide IPM Program: Damsel bug adult next to a nymph on a leaf Close-up of damsel bug using its piercing and sucking mouthparts to feed on an aphid Close-up of damsel bug using its piercing and sucking mouthparts to feed on another insect.