Downy Leather-wing

If you find any of these in your garden, you are in luck. You’ve got help controlling pests. This is a Downy Leather-wing (Podabrus pruinosus), a species of Soldier Beetle in the family Cantharidae.

Specifically how are they going to help you in the garden? They eat Aphids and Spider Mites. Good ones to have around.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.