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

Did anyone find out what insect could have laid these eggs by any chance? I just discovered this on the top of a hosta leaf. Not sure whether a beneficial bug/insect or not. Would anyone know please? I googled but could not find identical eggs except for this thread. Thank you. Jo.

I thought when it goes through metamorphosis it would turn an orange color but these are black with yellowish/orange spots. Very tiny too. I've got ladybugs here but they are orange with the blackish spots. Julia

I just now made the connection between this and the bedbug posting. The antennae of your bugs are very dermestid beetle-like. These beetles and their larvae are very interested in dead skin. A population of these would be leaving a series of bristly moulting casings behind as they grow into adults. The larva are also interested in wool, other natural animal fibers, bone, dead insects, and various foodstuffs. Bedbugs have a flattened appearance, they are not very 3-dimensional. A flash photo revealing more abdomen details would help, also, flip one over on its back.