Urban-insect-ecology

Guides

Orius insidiosus
insidious flower bug, minute pirate bug
Orius insidiosus, commonly known as the insidious flower bug or minute pirate bug, is a predatory true bug widely distributed across the Americas. Adults are approximately 2–3 mm in length, black with distinctive white wing markings. The species is an important biological control agent, mass-reared commercially for management of thrips, aphids, mites, and other agricultural pests in greenhouses and field crops. Both nymphs and adults are predatory, though they also feed on pollen and plant tissues, making them zoophytophagous. Despite their beneficial role, they occasionally bite humans, causing disproportionately painful but harmless irritation.
predator biological-control zoophytophagous thrips-predator aphid-predator mite-predator agricultural-beneficial greenhouse-biological-control occasional-human-biter mass-reared commercial-natural-enemy integrated-pest-management urban-insect-ecology diapause overwintering-adult endophytic-oviposition pollen-feeding