Posted by Charles Rafowicz on October 9, 2005

Q: Two weeks ago, we were walking downtown in Grand Junction, Colorado when we passed under a tree dotted with some kind of balls that had fallen from a tree and dotted even more, the whole sidewalk and grass, with bugs. Some of them were about a half inch long, narrow, black on teh outside, red on the inside. Some of them were tiny and bright, bright red. we thought maybe the tiny ones had just hatched and were eating the tree ball things and growing into the big ones. Or we wondered if the tree balls were the eggs that the tiny red ones had just hatched from and the big ones were different and had come to eat them. I've seen whole clots of ladybugs overwintering, covering bushes, etc. But this was different. We're not from Colorado, moved here a year ago. We asked a passerby and he said he thought the big ones were box elder bugs. My four-year-old wants to know what those bugs were and what they were doing.

Habitat: suburban/yard

State: Colorado

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: I've been trying to figure out what those tree balls were that you described, but can't. Wish you had given me more info on those. Although the Boxelder does not have seeds that grow in balls, the Sweet Gum, Sycamore, and even Osage Orange does. The balls might even have been galls and not seeds at all so I'm uncertain there. As to the insects, does sound as though they could be Boxelder Bugs as they are found not only on Boxelder trees in large numbers but other trees as well. You might want to google these insects and see if they look like the ones you saw.

My guess on the other insects is that these were a different kind, not babies. Are you familair with aphids? Some kinds of aphids are red so this may be what you saw. If you want to send more descriptive information to me, I'll see what more I can help you with if this doesn't sound right. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( October 9, 2005)