Bug Found - What is it?

[DweamGoiL]

Found the above bug on my mudiae orchid. Does anyone know what it is so I can figure out how to get rid of them?

It cannot fly, has no wings, and moves pretty fast.

[wuness]

The image is pretty small, but from here it looks like the spotted cucumber beetle. If it is, it's just passing through and I doubt is any threat to your orchids. If it isn't a cucumber beetle, it doesn't look like anything orchids should fear.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata - BugGuide.Net

wuness

[MrHappyRotter]

I'm wondering, too. It looks like something I've seen inside recently. I've never noticed them before, but suddenly this year I've found a couple of them in some veggies I picked up at the Asian food market. I don't know if they are some local species that just managed to creep into the greens or if they were imported in from where the produce was grown though. For what it's worth, they didn't seem to get into my plants.

But we also may not have the same thing. My mystery bug, which superficially looks like yours, was some kind of small beetle-like insect. While they mostly crawled around, they were perfectly capable of flying (wings are hidden under the wing covers/shell) -- but flight didn't seem to be their primary mode of escaping danger.

[NYCorchidman]

It doesn't look like something that will eat orchids. lol

Aphids, mites, scales, mealy bugs, are the main and most common pests for orchids, and that bug in the picture does not belong to any of these.

If you are concerned, just squeeze it to death!
Oops, did I just say that? just kidding. no, why not! hahaha

---------- Post added at 01:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

Originally Posted by wuness

The image is pretty small, but from here it looks like the spotted cucumber beetle. If it is, it's just passing through and I doubt is any threat to your orchids. If it isn't a cucumber beetle, it doesn't look like anything orchids should fear.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata - BugGuide.Net

wuness

She says it has no wings, and beetles' larvae look nothing like their adults.

My first thought was some kind of stink bugs.
then again, the picture is blurry.

[Hiester]

The fore wings of true beetles (Coleoptera) are modified into wing covers for the aft wings. These wing covers (elytra) are generally hard, like a shell, and create the somewhat classic beetle appearance. Some true bugs (Heteroptera) also have elytra.

The quintessential Ladybug is actually not a true bug, but a beetle.

[wuness]

My interpretation of "it has no wings" is that wings aren't evident like they are in dragonflies, moths, flies, etc. They're present but hidden under the wing covers. But you could be right, it could be an immature insect. And I agree that it's likely not a problem.

wuness

[MrHappyRotter]

Originally Posted by wuness

The image is pretty small, but from here it looks like the spotted cucumber beetle. If it is, it's just passing through and I doubt is any threat to your orchids. If it isn't a cucumber beetle, it doesn't look like anything orchids should fear.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle - Diabrotica undecimpunctata - BugGuide.Net

wuness

Somehow I did not see your post before submitting my own. Either way, I'm pretty sure your identification (cucumber beetle or something very similar) is what I found indoors this year. Particularly in light of the fact that I'm sure they came in on some of the vegetables I purchased. Thanks for the insight.

[DweamGoiL]

Well, I am glad it's nothing to worry about

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Here's a neat trick you can use to photograph something tiny like this…

Use a jeweler's loupe or magnifying glass and place it over the tiny object/insect, and take a photo of the object/insect through the magnifying glass. It should act as a "poor man's macro lens".

[villdyr]

I don't think they've ever formed a colony living on orchids, but ... I did have a cucumber beetle end up in my house, and I didn't put it outside quickly enough, so it had to eat SOMEthing, and it chose orchid leaf! The plant was fine, but there was a giant hole on the edge of one leaf