During the last week of May, I heard about a few insect sightings in Iowa. The first was a report by ISU Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist Brian Lang in northeastern Iowa. He saw a soybean aphid on VC soybean in his small research plot near Decorah on May 28. I wasn’t surprised, given that part of the state is where we usually first see soybean aphid every year. Winged females deposit a few nymphs per day in May and June. You may need a hand lens to see first instars on small plants (Fig. 1A). Often I confirm early-season colonies in soybean by looking for ants and lady beetles (Fig. 1B).