The cotton seed bug (CSB), Oxycarenus hyalinipennis (Costa) (Hemiptera: Oxycarenidae), is seed-feeding insect that may become a significant pest of cotton, valued at $135.2 million in California. CSB feeding can reduce the cotton seed weight by up to 15 percent, germination rates by as much as 88 percent, and cotton lint may be stained if CSB are crushed during the ginning process. While CSB is not yet found on cotton in California, CSB is found on ornamental plants such as cow-itch trees, Lagunaria patersonia (Andrews) G. Don (Malvales: Malvaceae). Lagunaria patersonia is a good host plant because seed pods present year-round provide food and shelter for CSB feeding swarms. However, minimal studies have analyzed the population dynamics of CSB on L. patersonia, documented natural enemies, or described the developmental biology of CSB. Phenological sampling found that L. patersonia blooms once per year around May/June and pods reach maturity in early September. Pod sampling determined...