Wheat

This group represents a very large family of flies with over 1000 species in North America, all of which have a parasitic lifestyle. They vary considerably in appearance, but most have very bristled bodies and resemble house flies, although they can be substantially larger or smaller. The adult female typically lays an egg on the surface of the host insect cuticle and the hatching larvae then bores into the body of the host and develops internally. In other cases, the fly egg is consumed by the host insect in the process of feeding.

   Damsel bugs (Nabids) are slender, dull tan to grey insects about 5/16 inch long when mature.  They have long legs and long antennae.  Nabids feed on greenbugs, other aphids and soft bodied insects.  The adults overwinter in wheat and begin to reproduce in the spring.

Adult green lacewings are delicate, slender insects 1/2-3/4 inches long. The lacey green wings are angled tent-like over their bodies when at rest. Adults feed on nectar, pollen and aphid honeydew and are weak flyers. Eggs are laid on stalks which helps protect them from predation.  The lacewing larvae are elongated, about 1/4 to 3/8 inches long, with prominent clumps of bristles and long, sickle-shaped mouthparts that are used to stab aphids and inject enzymes which liquify the body contents (extra-oral digestion).

The convergent lady beetle is the most common lady beetle in Kansas and the central High Plains.

Lysiphlebus testaceipes is the primary parasitoid of most cereal aphids that occur on the High Plains, including greenbugs, corn leaf aphids and bird cherry-oat aphids. It can also parasitize sugarcane aphids, provided they are not infected with Hamiltonella defensa, a secondary aphid endosymbiont that prevents eggs of these branoid parasitoids from hatching. Each female can parasitize several hundred aphids, although they only live 2-3 days.  Parasitized aphids become swollen and form mummies, from which adult wasps emerge a few days later.