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BFB-Lyn Brimbin Forest Bears
NSW, Australia
Posts: 4,153
Website

bear_original How about these for walking jewels. These little guys were found in my friends back yard as she was pruning the Hibiscus bush. They are known as a Cotton Harlequin Bug and there are a few different types but these guys must be top of the list for beauty - like my friend said they are like walking Opals.

JewelBeetle1.jpg

EvaJ EJ's Crafts
Fort Mohave, Arizona
Posts: 829

Beautiful looking bugs.  I have never seen any thing like them.

puca bears puca bears
Posts: 1,934

STUNNING, Lyn - never seen anything like these! Thanks for sharing
big huggies
Maria

KJ Lyons KJ Lyons Design
Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,413
Website

250px-Acanthosoma_labiduroides_female01.JPGWonderful! Here is a bug in the US with a similar history, but we call it a Stink Bug. We don't get Opals  bear_tongue

SueAnn Past Time Bears
Double Oak, Texas
Posts: 22,202

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner Sponsor

Gorgeous bugs . . . but are they harmful?  As in eating desirable plants?  If so, I would have a hard time deciding whether to eradicate them or not.

Us Bears Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,479

Those bugs do feed on hibiscus plants.  They suck the sap from the stems and shoots.  If there are too many of them they can damage your plants.
They do the same on cotton plants, too.  Cotton farmers consider them a minor pest.

http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane … lequin.htm

You should decide whether or not you want them around your plants.
If you don't want to use insecticide (I would not) you can simply find and destroy their eggs and that should keep their numbers in check.
You can also pick the beetles off your plants and drop them into a bucket of soapy water until they expire.

The idea being that you don't want wholesale destruction of every bug in your garden but you also don't want them to overrun the place and kill all your plants.  You should do what's necessary to keep them from over populating the area but still keep a few of them around for aesthetic reasons.

To everything, there must be a balance.

rowarrior The Littlest Thistle
Glasgow
Posts: 6,212

Aww, how pretty.  I wonder if I need to make a bug-collecting bear...  bear_whistle

Us Bears Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,479

You could encase one bug in a block of clear plastic resin and make a pendant out of it.

Sacrifice the bug by placing it into a jar full of ammonia.
Soak some cloth in pure household ammonia, put it into the jar, drop in a bug and seal the lid.  The bug will succumb to the ammonia fumes after a while.

You can also sacrifice insects by putting them into the freezer for several hours.  Make sure it's the deep freeze and not just the fridge.  You don't want them to simply go into torpor then wake up when they get warm!  It must be sub-zero cold.  Probably keep them frozen for a couple of days just to be sure.
Of course, you put them into a jar first!  ;)

Take the bug out of the sacrificing jar and let it come to room temperature or air out from the ammonia fumes.
Prepare your mold.  (They are usually silicone rubber.)  Mix your plastic resin and fill the mold half way.    Embed your bug into the plastic and arrange it the way you think is best.  Tap out any bubbles then fill the mold the rest of the way.
The plastic resin should harden in 20-30 minutes.  Unmold and let cure overnight or longer.
Polish it up, hang it on a chain and give it to your Bear to use as jewelery or to study.  (Many of our Bears are quite studious!)

It shouldn't cost you more than $20 or $30 to make resin castings out of your garden bugs.

Besides...  It's pest control AND it's art both at the same time!  bear_laugh   bear_tongue

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