The subject of neckties, aprons, sun hats, T-shirts and statuary, the ladybug is treated like a god in the garden world. But other good beetles, like the soldier beetle and the common ground beetle, inhabit local yards. Since they lack the pulchritude of the lady beetle, many ignorant gardeners fear their appearance and often mistake them for pests. These scrappy beetles consume a wide array of detrimental pests and deserve to be recognized. These valuable beneficials greedily consume aphids, spider mites, small caterpillars, grasshopper eggs and cucumber beetles.
Soldier beetles are a curious looking lot.
A typical beetle on the West Coast has a reddish orange head, black eyes, long wiggling antennae and a half-inch long, narrow body covered with velvety black elytra. Elytra are the thick wings of a beetle that cover the delicate, functional wings lying next to the beetle's body. Wingless larvae, also about a half-inch long, feed on insects lurking in the soil and under bark and thick mulch. They are just as cuddly as ladybugs. Adults are attracted to flowers that produce nectar and pollen like milkweed, hydrangea, goldenrod and nectar-laden roadside weeds.