Guard Your Yard Against These Common Lawn Insects
There are many types of insects that make themselves right at home in lawns, and these bugs frequently damage and destroy the grass by feeding on the roots or the blades. Having the ability to identify some common lawn insects is a great way to catch an infestation before it gets out of hand. Some of the most important things to consider when classifying an insect include its size, shape, pattern and coloration. Take a look at some of the most common lawn-munching insects and their features below.
Japanese Beetles
One common type of lawn insect is the Japanese beetle. They’re quite small, with an average adult size between a quarter-inch and a half-inch in length, and are a dark green color with a distinctive metallic sheen that makes them fairly easy to spot. Japanese beetles also have coppery brown wing coverings. These insects typically feed from the top of the blade of grass downward, and they almost always feed in groups of five or more.
Chinch Bugs
Chinch bugs are often responsible for creating brown spots in the middle of otherwise healthy lawns. They spend most of their time on the surface of the soil, and they have an overall length of around an eighth of an inch. They’re a medium brown color with wings on their backs and an elongated body shape. Another distinctive feature that makes them easier to identify is their long antennae.
Cutworms
Cutworms are the larvae of moths, and they get their name from the fact that they eat blades of grass from the bottom, cutting the blades short. These worms are usually dark brown or black, and they can often be identified by the fact that they curl up into a C shape when they’re disturbed. They have an overall length of up to an inch.
Greenbug Aphids
While most aphids feed on trees and other vegetation, greenbug aphids also feed on grass. They’re very small, typically only reaching an adult size of a sixteenth of an inch. They’re often difficult to spot because their green color helps them blend in with the grass, but they’re somewhat quick to identify because they almost always appear in groups of 10 or more. Their flat, round bodies are also very distinctive.
