This document summarizes various beneficial predatory and parasitoid insects that help control pest populations. It describes the ground beetles, ladybird beetles, hover flies, minute pirate bugs, green lacewings, predatory mites, spiders, mantids, paper wasps, and parasitic wasps. For each, it provides details on appearance, life cycle, prey, effectiveness, and how to purchase or attract them to gardens and farms.

5. Predators - Beetles

6. Ground Beetles

9. Ladybird Beetles

10. Eating a winged aphid Feed on aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, insect eggs, mites, other small insects

11. Ladybird Beetle Eggs

12. Ladybird Beetles Just Hatched

13. Larvae

14. Pupae

19. Predators - Flies

21. Aphid Predator Midge

22. Life Cycle

24. Syrphid Fly mimics Honeybee

25. Hover Fly (Syrphid Flies)

28. Hover Fly (Syrphid) egg

29. Larvae with Aphids

30. Hover Fly Maggot eating an aphid

36. Tachinid Flies

40. Tachinid Fly

41. Tachinid Fly eggs on a Leafroller

42. Tachinid Fly eggs on a Cutworm

44. Predators – True Bugs

45. Minute Pirate Bug $37/100

46. Pirate Bug eating a Thrips

48. Minute Pirate Bug Nymph

49. Minute Pirate Bug

51. Big-eyed Bug

53. Damsel Bug

54. Assassin Bug Eggs

61. Other Predatory Beneficials

62. Green Lacewing

63. Lacewings

66. Lacewing Eggs

67. Lacewing Larvae preys on aphids, leafhoppers, scales, mites and moth eggs

68. Larvae

75. Predatory Mite Amblysius fallacis

76. Phoretic Mite on Carrion Beetle

77. Velvet Mite

79. Jumping Spider Phidippus audax

80. Praying Mantid

83. Mantid Adult

84. Praying Mantid $9/3 cases

85. Solitary/Hunting Wasps Paper Wasps

91. Parasitic Wasp attacking aphid

93. Braconid Adult

95. Braconid Larvae emerging from Caterpillar & Carcass

96. Parasitized and Normal Cabbage caterpillar

101. Parasitic nematodes

102. Grasshopper infected with Nosema locustae