Junk bug (Green Lacewing Larva)

Gardens, agricultural fields, forests, and suburban landscapes throughout North America.

Voracious predators that eat aphids, mites, scale insects, whiteflies, and other small soft-bodied insects.

The larvae often use hooked hairs on their backs to carry a 'trash pile' or 'junk' consisting of dead prey carcasses, lichen, and debris to camouflage themselves from predators and sneak up on prey.

Highly beneficial to the ecosystem as biological pest control; they can occasionally nip human skin if handled, causing a minor, harmless itch, but they are not dangerous.