Both adults and larvae consume aphids, thrips, mealy bugs, scale insects, mites, and whiteflies. Nymphs resemble adults but are orange and do not have wings. They eat aphids, scale insects, and other tiny insect pests. The insidious flower bug is an important enemy of thrips. Parasitic wasps - These wasps are common in several different families.
Coloration is often black to brown.
The wasps are slender, have a pinched waist and clear wings. Examples include chalcids, braconids, ichnecmonids, and trichogramma. Trichogramma wasp attacks eggs of more than 200 species, including cutworms, corn borers, corn earworms, armyworms, codling moths, and cabbage moths. They can be encouraged by planting wildflowers in the daisy and carrot families. They can attack many caterpillars, beetle larvae, flies, aphids, and other soft bodied insects.