ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS > GARDENING AROUND THE HOUSE

Ambush bugs

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The15thMember:
Nice picture.  Apparently it's common to see the males riding piggyback on the females like that.  The males are smaller and lighter than the females and will often ride around on them, as the larger females can snag bigger prey, which the males then mooch off of.  There is probably some feminist joke to be made here about how men are all freeloaders, but I'm just not that kind of gal.  :cheesy:

You are certainly at liberty to do whatever you want in your garden, but I would just like to point something out, because I think a lot of people with pollinator or pollinator friendly gardens deal with this.  Part of doing habitat restoration includes fostering habitat for the predators that prey on the animals you are targeting to protect.  It often seems like it wouldn't be beneficial to have indescrimate predator insects in a pollinator garden, but they are an integral part of the ecological web.  Predators keep many insect populations in check and even make them stronger by weeding out weak individuals not strong or healthy enough to escape them, leaving more robust individuals to produce future generations, thereby contributing to healthy natural selection.  It's no different than the National Park Service attempting to eradicate or severely depress mammal predator populations in National Parks in the 20s to "protect" the prey animals, which led to ecological issues many parks desired to correct in later years by reintroducing predators to help keep the ecosystem balanced.  Predator/prey cycles fluctuate naturally much like parasite/host relationships do, and I would argue that seeing many predators in your garden is evidence that the habitat is having a positive effect, since seeing those predators is in indicator that their prey are in sufficient enough numbers to support them. 

As I said, you can of course do what you want, but I would also caution you to be careful if you are handpicking them.  While ambush bugs, and all assassin bugs actually, only bite very rarely when distressed or provoked, their bites can be quite painful, as their proboscises can penetrate skin deeply and the enzymes they inject can cause reactions in some people.             

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