UC ANR is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive web experience for all users. If you encounter an accessibility barrier or need content in an alternative or remediated accessible format, please contact anraccessibility@ucanr.edu.
Probably the most common ant in southern California and on the Central Coast is the Argentine ant. The workers are light to dark brown, about one eighth inch long and are usually seen running along in columns from their nests to sources of food and back.
There are many species of aphids, and they come in all colors from pale yellow to green to red to brown to black. Most aphids are wingless, but there may be some winged forms also present. Most aphids give birth to living young, which are miniature forms of their adult mother.
Many gardeners use the systemic rose food. This product is a combination of fertilizer and an insecticide. The product needs to be applied on the soil around the base of the plant and lightly worked in. As the roses are watered, the fertilizer and insecticide are absorbed by the roots.
Bee swarms occur in almost every beehive once a year, usually in the spring. In managed, commercial hives the beekeeper can manipulate and divide the hive to prevent swarming. In every hive there is a time in late winter/early spring when the hive begins to produce new queens.
Black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus, the larvae of this insect feed on the roots and basal stems. Black vine weevils and their young feed on a wide variety of shrubs including privet, euonymous, azaleas, rhododendron, taxus, citrus, and other evergreens.
The Central Coast is a spidery place. Our climate seems to be very congenial to a number of spider species. Most of our spiders are harmless and indeed are beneficial in that they catch and eat a wide variety of insects.
California laurel aphid is found on the undersurface of the leaves and is a small (a sixteenth of an inch diameter) ball which is gray-white. The aphids tend to line up along the mid-vein and lateral veins of the leaf.
The California Prionus beetle, Prionus californicus, can be as large as two to two-and-a-half inches. It is uniform dark, reddish brown and has antennae that are about half as long as its body. The adult is attracted to light at night and sounds like a small airplane approaching.
Chinese wax scale is an insect that can attack many trees and shrubs. Citrus sp., Schinus sp., Ilex sp., Baccharis sp., Umbellularia sp. and Escallonia sp. plus mayten tree are common hosts on the Central Coast. Both the young and mature scales suck plant sap from their host as food.
The name fairly well describes this insect. Young scales of this species remain mobile until about half-grown. Then they settle down, and the female grows into a white, cushion-shaped mass, which may be surrounded by fuzzy, white strands (cotton).
