Don't Touch Those Eggs: Spined Soldier Beetle

In early July, my husband and I came upon these beautiful eggs when we were doing our bug patrol in the vineyard. We know from previous experience that we should leave eggs alone unless we know what they turn into, but, unfortunately we didn't. When we looked on the Internet (okay, this problem wouldn't happen if we had a smart phone), we learned that these beauties were the eggs of the Spined Soldier Beetle, Latin name Podisus maculiventris (Say), a good guy that you want in your vineyard.
I found a really good site that has photos of the life cycle of the Spined Soldier Beetle from the University of Florida.¹
The Cornell University Biological Control site lists the pests that the spined soldier beetle attacks: Over 100 species in many families have been reported as prey. Prime targets are immature insects. Reported prey include the larvae of Mexican bean beetle, European corn borer, diamondback moth, corn earworm, beet armyworm, fall armyworm, cabbage looper, imported cabbageworm, Colorado potato beetle, velvetbean caterpillar, and flea beetles.² The spined soldier beetle also looks like the predatory stink bug, Latin Alcaeorrhynchus grandis (Dallas), but not to worry, they are both beneficial.

Additional look-alikes that are not good include the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) and the brown stink bug. The Stop BMSB site provides photos of the BMSB, the brown stink bug and compares these look-alikes with the predatory spined soldier bug.³
References:
1. University of Florida, Life Cycle of the Spined Soldier Beetle
2. Cornell University Biological Control Site
3. Stop BMSB