Leafminers - adults, larvae in the the leaf tissue, and nymphs best as I can tell (on the foam). Just Google 'leafminers' for lots of photos and control tips.

Dave

Hi Dave, that thing on the foam was so weird. It seemed to have dirt, for lack of a better word, on top of it's body cuz I pulled some of it off. Kinda like carrying a heavy load.

Thanks for the advice on the leafminers....going to check it out now.

crayphish

I agree with Dave that the insect causing the lines on your leaves are leaf-miners. The signs they leave are very recognizable.

But that other insect. I remembered reading your post yesterday and something kept nibbling at the edge of my memory, so I looked it up this morning.

FWIW, The three-lined beetle carries its own excrement on its back, believed to ward off predators! And it apparently isn't the only beetle that has this defense against predators. So I suspect you had one of these critters on your beans.

That orange and black insect looks just like a Banded Sexton Beetle (third one down the page, click to enlarge). But they're carrion-consumers, hardly likely to be on your bean leaves.

Insects can be extremely confusing to try to identify.

Much more likely, it's probably the adult stage of an assassin bug. The nymphs are usually orange-red with black legs as shown.

If it is the assassin bug, it's a good guy in your garden. It's an insect pest-predator and relatively common.

Hi anney, thank you so much for those links. Bugs are hard to identify but they do amaze me!!! I'm off to check the veggies for bugs!!

Hi crayphish,
I'm always a bit concerned when people talk about spraying with soap or botanical sprays like garlic or capsicum 'just in case'. The thing is, insecticidal soap and most botanical sprays don't distinguish between pests and the 'good' insects that control them. Even more unfortunately, in a lot of cases the 'good' insects are MORE susceptible to pesticides than the pests. I know there are some parasitic wasps (tiny wasps that lay their eggs in other insects, often the ones we consider pests, like aphids, whiteflies etc) - Aphidius and Encarsia species spring to mind - that are affected by insecticidal soap.

The soap spray won't affect the leafminers, that's for sure, unless it has some extra property because of the mintiness, because the adult leafminer flies are long gone and the leafminer larvae are snug in their little burrow.

I wonder if the leafminers even requires any action. It looks like a Liriomyza species, probably L. trifolii, which is considered a pest in commercial flower and celery crops, but fruiting crops like beans, tomatoes, cukes etc are rarely bothered. If you leave well enough alone the native parasitic wasps, Diglyphus species and the like, will probably come along and provide reasonable control for you. A bit of leaf damage won't hurt your plants and unless it's severe, it shouldn't affect yields either.

Tracey

Unless theres a ton of damage I would leave them alone too. IF the leaves bother you with the looks of them, maybe trim off them, but if it doesnt, I wouldnt bother. You NEED insects in your garden. They are what help pollinate stuff and eat tiny bad aphids and just kind of make your garden whole. I hates bugs myself, but I figure as long as they arent wreaking havoc, I wouldnt worry about them....-cass