Amany, this is interesting; I had the same problem with one of my Dieffenbachias awhile back. I went through all my plant books and searched through the internet - nothing. I never found out what these pests were back when I was dealing with them; still haven't. Anyhow, I washed the leaves of the plant and then soaked it for about fifteen minutes in a mild soap solution. I repeated this treatment two extra times and never saw them again. I checked the plants that it was next to and they hadn't been infected. This was about seven or eight months ago, so if they're migrating to another plant, they're taking a heck of a long time...LOL. The infected Dieffenbachia had been newly-purchased and I'm sure that it came home with those pests. I'd bought a lot of plants during that period and hadn't been careful about inspecting them before taking them home. Thankfully, the problem was one that could be taken care of. Let's hope I learned my lesson... :) Anyhow, I'm eager to see what the members on this forum will come up with. I'd really like to finally find out what the problem was. In all my years of growing houseplants, I've never seen these bugs before, and I've dealt with my fair share of pests!

i don't know what bugs they are but whatever you do don't use a soap insecticide, it will kill your sundew. are they like beetles? or are they different? they sound like thrips, but thrips only attack pitcher plants. does anyone else know?

I too have a beautifully growing Texas Ash shading my back southern-facing porch from the brutal Texas summer sun. I love butterflies and have studied them all my life and was quite surprised to see flocks of Hackberry butterflies and Red Admiral butterflies all over the ends of the branches feeding all day, since ash is not on the diet of either of those species. Quite a sight, but when I saw the curled up leaves I suspected something was attacking the tree. I assumed the butterflies were sucking up sap from the leaves, but y'all's posts have helped me - THANKS!! Now to return the favor, since we know these are aphids, I have the perfect solution...LADYBUGS. These cute little insects are quite the predators and their favorite meal is aphids. I'm heading out today to a local nursery that sells them in a little mesh bag. All you have to do is put them in the refrigerator, where they go into a kind of "cryogenic" sleep until you are ready for to release them. Just take them out and they will come right back to life. I'm going to start releasing handfuls near my ash tree today.

I have a similar problem - I’ve attached four photos: two make the insect look oval and brown, but the other two make them look more silver. I am not sure if this is just due to the color of the background. With the naked eye the insects in all four photos seemed to be the same insect. I am reaching out because the plant these insects are inhabiting (an anthirium) is slowly dying. It has dropped 80% if it’s leaves and has stopped putting out new growth. I am concerned that the insects are feeding on the roots, as I don’t see any insect damage to the leaves or “branches” of the plant. I inherited the plant from my grandmother when she passed about a year ago and it appears to be very old and has 8 inch long “trunks” and was very full when I originally took it home. A few moths ago, at the recommendation of a local nursery, I replaced the first 1” of soil with sand and refrained from watering my plans for roughly 2 weeks. I have since gotten back to a once-weekly watering schedule allowing the surface to dry between waterings. Although I no longer see these insects on the surface the plant continues to struggle. Recently, when I lifted the planter, I found them scurrying around on the underside of the pot. Any help identifying or understanding how to get rid of them would be very very much appreciated!