Bagrada bug prefers to feed on plants in the mustard family and can be devastating to young mustard greens or cole crops in vegetable gardens. It feeds on buds and seeds as well as leaves, stems and flowers and can build up in huge numbers on alyssum and related bedding plants. The pest is favored by warm temperature, so the greatest numbers will likely be found in late summer and fall.
Find out more about Bagrada bug including how to distinguish it from the similarly colored, but larger, harlequin bug in a new Pest Note: Bagrada Bug by UC Riverside entomologists D. Reed and T. M. Perring and UC Cooperative Extension Advisors J. P. Newman, J.A. Bethke, and J. Kabashima.
Author - Associate Director for Urban & Community IPM/ Area Urban IPM Advisor
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