Every year hoards of these things show up in my yard. They seem completely useless; I never see birds or lizards eat them, and I don't think they're destructive. Some look like this, others are mostly black except for some red underneath. Does /an/ know what they are?
Nope, other than it looks like a hemipterid ("true bug"). Hemiptera usually suck plant juices. Aphids are hemipterids but this looks a lot bigger than your typical aphid.
They're about a half inch long, if that helps.
As anon said: A true bug. Something like a firebug or similar.
looks like a boxelder bug nymph, yeah, they pretty much have no predators and are really useless and annoying
i eat them when i see them.
Awesome, thanks for the help anon.