My neighbor Doug Dearhamer likes ground cherries. They can be used like tomatoes and eaten raw or cooked. Different cultivars have different flavors - some similar to a strawberry, pineapple, or even savory. He took this picture of a bug that was attacking the leaves of his ground cherry plant. I started looking through the Internet to figure out what it was. Found they are the larvae of the three-lined potato beetle. I wondered why they looked so dirty ... and unfortunately found out. The larvae use their own excrement as camouflage. They even have a sort of bump in the middle of their back as an anchor to keep the poop in place. Probably to the casual predator they look for the world like bird droppings. If they are noticed, a predator might only grab a bunch of 'crap' but leave the larva behind. The little buggers have found a wonderful defense mechanism. I, for one, wasn't about to pick them off by hand. Fortunately there are a number of effective organic sprays and/or diatomaceous earth that can be applied to kill them.
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