Would't worry about it. If they hitchhiked in with the mulch then they are decomposers of rotting organic matter. More than likely they will die off/move away on their own in due time. Almost certainly not interested in your plants.

Beetles? Beetles are not gross. Not hardly. Now if you had thousands of slugs ... that would be gross. Ladybugs congregate in large numbers this time of year, looking for overwintering space. But surely you know what ladybugs look like. Ladybugs are beneficial insects. Box elder bugs are another possibility. Not as familiar as ladybugs. Black and red, but long instead of round. Still not gross, and not doing any harm. Don't try to kill them until you know what they are, and what damage they're doing.

Hi Jean, I suspect it to be chewing as I don't know what sucking would look like and it seems to have un evened the surface of the plant. Plant doesn't seem to be reacting at all. Probably found 25-30 total (plant is over 2 ft. tall) Really? Its the only one out of three with the issue... Steve

Hi Eric, Normally, most spider mites are so small you cannot see them move. The two-spotted mites I have on my cucumber plants and tomato plants pretty much every year are so small that they are about the size of the dot over the letter "i". One way to confirm if you have spider mites is to hold a white sheet of paper or cardboard underneath the foliage and thump the leaves. A good thumping will knock the spider mites to the white sheet of paper or cardboard, and they then will very slowly move around looking for a safe place. It will look like a lot of little dots, not large enough to really even tell it is a pest. Some mites are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye, and you need a magnifying glass to identify them. Because you mentioned that they are white, I instantly thought of whiteflies. They would like like teeny tiny white moths. In fact, they look more like moths than like flies. Mealybugs also are white. I don't think I've ever seen springtails. It is interesting that whatever you have is infesting the verbena and not the lantana because they are subject to several of the same pests. About the only pests I actually see on the plants you listed are spider mites and aphids. I'm going to link a fact sheet from TAMU that discusses pests of verbena and lantana. Maybe something on that fact sheet will sound familiar to you. Some years verbena does great and other years it just isn't happy. I have less trouble with the tall verbena (verbena bonariensis) than with the mounding types. You also could go to bugguide.net and see if you can find anything there that resembles the pests you're seeing. They have great photos and the site is pretty easy to navigate. If you are in the part of OK that has had a lot of rain in recent weeks, your plants might actually have a fungal or bacterial disease and the pests you are seeing might not be the real problem. Rudbeckia only does well for me in well-amended clay soil that drains really well and even then the wet years can kill it, and doesn't do well at all in the unamended clay. I am wondering if your soil has just been too wet this year. Keep searching for an answer and don't give up. Be careful spraying anything on foliage at temperatures over 90 degrees. Once the temperatures are really hot, leaf burn can occur when you spray plants with products. It is real hit-and-miss type stuff where one type of plant might not be bothered at all, and another type will burn, discolor and wilt. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Pests of Verbena and Lantana