Spined Soldier Beetle Life Cycle

The past three days have seen a spike in our temperatures as we are in the midst of a mini-heat wave with temperatures nearing 90 degrees on June 11, 12th and 13th. We are still working on leaf pulling and shoot positioning of our Chardonnay so, more opportunity for taking some cool photos. I came upon a mother spined soldier beetle, Latin name Podisus maculiventris (Say), laying eggs!

We are very partial to spined soldier beetles because they are really great insect predators. They are members of the stink bug family, but are the good members in the family.
Last year, I blogged about Soldier Patrol in the Vineyard, when we witnessed a spined soldier beetle in the middle of feasting on what I assume is a gypsy moth caterpillar.
Here is the life cycle of the spined soldier beetle with photos taken from in the vineyard.

When we first came upon the eggs of the spined soldier beetle, we thought that they were the most interesting looking eggs. The University of Florida site has more information on the Spined Soldier Bug. I've also included this blogpost on my tab Insect Pests and Predators.