Bugs on Timothy Grass Seed Head
There is quite a lot of Timothy Grass[1] growing around our yard, and on July 3, 2014, Sandy spotted large numbers of these bugs infesting their seed-heads.
They look to be Meadow Plant Bugs, Leptopterna dolbrata. Like the Timothy Grass we found them on, they are a non-native species from Eurasia. And like a lot of other invasives, they look to be very plentiful. Their preferred feeding method is to suck the juices out of growing grass seeds. This normally isn’t much of an issue, but some farmers specifically grow grass to harvest for seed for the lawn-care market, and these bugs are quite a pest on such farms. It also wouldn’t surprise me much if they also infested crop grasses, like oats and wheat.
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[1] I once referred to this as “Me Grass” to my daughters, since my name is also Timothy. They thought this was hilarious, and now Rosie in particular has taken to calling it “Dad Grass”.
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