(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s seeing at least one bumper crop this fall, but it’s not your typical agricultural commodity.
Millions of weensy insects called minute pirate bugs are swarming our yards and their bite, while tiny, can be a doozy. Ginny Mitchell, education program coordinator at Iowa State University’s Insect Zoo, says they’re an appropriately named creature as they’re only about one-eighth to one-twelfth of an inch long. Mitchell says farmers and other growers should love minute pirate bugs as they perform a valuable service during the spring, summer and early fall. They eat truckloads of plant pests, like aphids and midges.
Why are there so many of these itsy-bitsy biting beasts? Minute pirate bugs usually feed in the tree canopy or in a field, and as the trees lose their leaves and harvest is underway, they’re having to look elsewhere for food.
