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Beautiful Costa Rican Beetle
Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Dear Bugman,
My friend John just snapped this shot of an absolutely beautiful beetle a couple of days ago in the Guanacaste area of Costa Rica (Pacific Coast). It was sunning itself on the edge of our pool, and flew away after it’s photo was taken. I’ve been traveling to Costa Rica for about 10 years, and have seen many beautiful insects and spiders, but I think this one is my favorite so far.
Can you tell me what it is?
Sue
Cental America, Guanacaste Costa Rica

Unknown Stink Bug

Hi Sue,
Your “beautiful beetle” is actually not a beetle. It goes by the decidedly not beautiful name of a Stink Bug. We are not sure of the species, and we may have time to do additional research in the future, but for the moment, we are posting your photo of a Stink Bug in the family Pentatomidae in the hopes that one of our readers will be able to provide a species name.

Thank you – I’ll watch the site to find out what your readers have to say. Ahhh well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder – but the nose always knows! Thank you for your response.
Sue
I am almost certain that your Costa Rican stink bug is Brachystethus rubromaculatus, which occurs from Mexico to Panama. If you are really interested, there is a rather technical document which includes a species description and illustration (look for Fig. 2) located at: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/isz/v93n4/a08v93n4.pdf Regards.
Karl

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