Is that bug a common pest, a beneficial insect, or a vital part of a healthy ecosystem? The residents in our gardens tell us a lot about plant health and growing conditions. Use our fully indexed entomology database to identify and assess the insects you spot.
(Order Dermaptera)
Earwigs are small, long insects that are most easily identified by their abdominal pincers and short wings that cover a small portion of their body.
(Family: Syrphidae)
If you can get close enough, make sure to count the wings. Two wings, and you’ve got a fly; four wings, and watch out - it’s a bee or wasp!
(Family Aphididae)
This is one bug I think most people can identify immediately.
World Tomato Society: What is the reason you started growing tomatoes? How long have you been growing them? Dorota Basiura: In general, I started growing vegetables myself because I wanted to have healthy, organic produce for my son and my whole family. Tomatoes have always been in our garden. My father has grown them since […]
World Tomato Society: What is the reason you started growing tomatoes? How long have you been doing it? Andrea Clapp: I’ve loved tomatoes since as far back as my memory allows and have been growing them since then as well. I first started with my dad in our family garden, and when I was about […]
Erfan Vafaie currently works for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service center based in Overton, Texas, helping growers adopt integrated pest management practices for insect pest management. He is originally from Canada, where he earned his undergraduate degree at Western University and his master’s in integrated pest management at Simon Fraser University. He has been […]
Entomologist Lauren Davidson works at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where she practices her passion for bugs, education, and husbandry. With a bachelor’s degree in entomology from Texas A&M University (USA), Lauren brings her expertise and humor to colleagues at the World Tomato Society while continuing graduate courses in pest management, education, morphology, and physiology.
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