Coreid Nymphs

bugman

November 13th, 2005 at 1:00 am

Categories

True Bugs

North Florida Insect
I’ve tried to ID these insects, at first I thought it was one of the Redviidae but the head doesnt look right and I have not had much luck finding anything that looks just like these They wereq clustered on wild Nightshade plant( which is eaten) but I have not actually seen these eat the plant. The youngest are very orange and about 1/4 inch, except for the head they do resemble young wheel bugs, as they molt they get darker. One that just molted was light yellow, but I believe it darkened during the day because there were no yellow insects that night. Final size is about that of a thumbnail. Could not get a closer, in-focus picture.
Chris Bittle
Tallahassee, Fl

Hi Chris,
We contacted Eric Eaton and he agrees this is an immature Coreid Bug, but could not be more conclusive as to a genus or species. Eric writes: “I think I collected an adult once, but am still trying to figure out what it is! “

Update: (01/07/2006)
While surfing to find information about Leptoglossus occidentalis, I found this note in a webpage. I am almost sure this is genus Spartocera. Hope it helps.
Julieta
USDA, taxonomy of Heteroptera