More Leaf-Footed Bugs
Location: Northeast Florida
June 20, 2011 6:00 pm
I found some Leaf-Footed Bugs mating on my tomato plants today, and I took a few pictures. In these photos I don’t see the yellowish spots on the forward part of the pronotum that were obvious in the first bug picture I sent you. So do I have two varieties of Leaf-Footed Bugs on my tomatoes?
Signature: Karen

Mating Leaf Footed Bugs

Hi Again Karen,
These mating Leaf Footed Bugs are in the same genus as your previous submission, Leptoglossus, however they represent a different species.  We believe this is Leptoglossus phyllopus based on images posted to BugGuide.

Mating Leaf Footed Bugs

Hi Daniel,
Thank you again for your help. At first I assumed these bugs were the same as the bug in the first photo I sent you, but when I looked at the pictures closely I didn’t see the spots on the pronotum. It’s hard to believe that I could have two species of a bug I’d never heard of or seen before on my tomato plants!
Karen

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Tomato Plant Bug
Location: Florida
June 19, 2011 8:22 am
I found some of these bugs on my tomato plants and haven’t been able to identify them. The bug is about an inch long, and has what appears to be a piercing mouth part (not visible in this photo). They can fly.
Signature: Karen

Leaf Footed Bug

Hi Karen,
Just yesterday, we posted several photos of this species of Leaf Footed Bug, Leptoglossus zonatus, that were submitted by a reader from South Pasadena California.  Those images were an update from a previous posting that is documenting the stages of the incomplete metamorphosis of this species.  According to BugGuide:  “Two yellowish spots on the forward part of the pronotum are distinctive” and this distinguishing feature is very clearly visible in your photograph.  According to BugGuide, it is:  “Very polyphagous, and can damage many fruit, vegetable, and field crops.
It feeds on the flowers and fruit of its host plants, which include oranges, limes, guava, avocado, pomegranate, melons, cotton, sorghum, corn, tomato, cucurbits, eggplant, and Chinese tallow” and it is “Considered a pest not only for the feeding damage on various crops but also as a transmitter of plant pathogens.”  The original range for Leptoglossus zonatus, includes the southwestern states of California, Arizona and east to Texas as well as south through Mexico to Brazil, but it is “now spreading into southeastern states.”  It was first reported in Louisiana in 1996 and in Florida in 2005.  The species has the potential to severely affect many agricultural crops in Florida.  In California, we find this species on pomegranate.  The piercing mouthparts are used to inject an enzyme or other substance into the fruit causing unsightly blemishes as well as degraded quality to the flesh of the fruit.  This is our own first hand observation, and not something we have read in any literature.

Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your quick reply and help! Yes, that’s my bug! I’d never seen anything like it before. I had gotten as far as figuring that it was in the True Bugs group, but that was all. I looked at photos on your site of immature Leaf Footed Bugs and immediately recognized them–I saw some of them on my tomato plants at one point, but never would have associated those little reddish orange bugs with the big brown ones I’m seeing now.
Thanks again!
Karen

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colourful bug
Location: jalisco mexico – lake chapala north shore mountains
June 16, 2011 11:27 am
this bug was +/- 1.5” long and we saw him on a high dry trail above lake chapala in jaliso mexico. the rainy season has just arrived
Signature: jstanley

Giant Mesquite Bug Nymph

Dear jstanley,
We have to admit that your email was the very last one we opened this morning but we did not have the time to post it before cleaning up some matters at LACC where we work.  This Giant Mesquite Bug nymph is surely a colorful creature.  Here is a BugGuide page on a species found in the Southwestern States of the US, Thasus neocalifornicus, that is also found in Mexico.

Very cool! Thank-you so much for replying and so promptly.  I am sharing this information with our hiking pals and have turned him into my screen saver. It’s easy to see where some of the beautiful whimsical Mexican masks ideas find their inspiration!.

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Bug with leaflike legs on passionflower
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Fl
June 5, 2011 9:23 am
Hi,
This is not the first time I’ve seen these leaflike bugs on my Passiflora edulis flowers. This photo was taken in late May in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They don’t appear to be doing any damage. Do you know what they are?
Signature: Sascha

Leaf Footed Bug

Dear Sascha,
Your description was quite accurate because this insect, Chondrocera laticornis, is in the family Coreidae and the members are commonly called Leaf Footed Bugs or Big Legged Bugs, and in the case of some tropical species, Flag Footed Bugs.  You can find more images on BugGuide where we identified it.

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