Good News For Those Battling This Invasive Beetle Here In Minn

If you garden here in the #BoldNorth, you have probably noticed that there is a beetle that seems to swarm and cause massive destruction to your plants this time of year. That beetle is more than likely a Japanese Beetle, which up until this point seemed like a pest that was tough to get rid of. Minnesota Gardening, a social media page about the hobby and pastime of gardening in Minnesota recently shared some excellent news for those battling this invasive species. It appears a beetle predator has started to arrive in Minnesota, giving those who garden some hope.

According to the post by Minnesota Gardening, the white dot on the beetle in the photo in their post is an egg from the Winsome Fly, a natural predator of the Japanese Beetle. The Winsome Fly is a "parasitoid fly" that "preys on Japanese Beetles."

That egg "will hatch in a few days and burrow its way into the beetle’s brain!! The fly larvae then force the beetle to the ground and command it to bury itself in the ground where the larvae feasts on the beetle and overwinters to emerge next summer."

So as you are working in your garden, getting rid of these pests, make sure if you see any with a white dot on them to leave them alone as mother nature is about to handle the situation. The hope is that the Winsome Fly will start to control the future populations of the invasive Japanese Beetle.