Damsel Bug
Slender, pale brown predatory bugs 1/4 to 1/2 inch long with grasping front legs. Effective predators of aphids, caterpillars, and leafhoppers on crops and ornamentals.
Why you want them
Damsel bugs are stalking predators that move deliberately through vegetation, using their grasping front legs to seize prey. They target aphids, young caterpillars, leafhoppers, and thrips - a broad enough diet to be useful across the whole garden. Both adults and nymphs are predatory. They prefer dense, structurally complex plantings where they can stalk prey among stems and leaves.
Helps control
How to attract them
- Carrot flower
- Goldenrod
- Clover
- Buckwheat
- Dense mixed borders
Preferred habitat
In dense vegetation, particularly in mixed borders and hedgerow margins. They prefer structurally diverse plantings and are most abundant in gardens with little bare soil.
What harms them
Insecticide use, loss of structurally diverse planting, and over-tidy gardening that removes the dense vegetation they need.
Related pest guides
Garden, by Willowbottom works with nature, not against it. Support your garden allies and they will do most of the hard work for you.