What's this????

I found this on a grass seed head along with several others. Never seen one before...... Anyone know what he is besides some type of beetle??

 

It's a shield bug nymph nearing maturity. Lots more info about them here.

 

Kewl! I didn't squish any of them as they didn't appear to be harming anything plus I thought the colors and pattern were interesting.

 

Some of them can be a pest to veggie crops, but which of the more than 6000 species are categorized as pests I'm not sure.

The most common type in Britain is the hawthorn shieldbug, and their favourite foodstuff is the hawthorn ( no surprise there then ), but they will also tap into the juices found in the leaves of oaks and whitebeams without doing any real damage.

They are also conscientious parents.