Heteroptera
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Mating bugs
Hello
I live in the Var (Provence), South East France. Have spent ages trying to identify these bugs – I thought it would be easy – so I’m sending you the photos. I call the second one “Love on a carrot” (wild carrot as you no doubt can identify. Would love to hear back.
Gabrielle Wellesley
Hi Gabrielle,
These are mating Stink Bugs, Graphosoma lineatum.
Lace bug photos for your site (re-sent)
At least I *think* it’s a lace bug. (Attached.) This one was sitting on a blade of grass next to an azalea bush; the bush itself was positively infested. The photos were taken in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA on 2008-5-24.
Tim McCormack
Hi Tim,
Thanks for resending your wonderful Lace Bug image. We are uncertain why you online posting kept crashing our browser. Your Lace Bug is the Azalea Lace Bug, Stephanitis pyrioides, according to images posted on BugGuide.
Ugliest bugs in the yard
Greetings Bugman,
I’d like to nominate these bugs for the "Ugliest Bug In The Yard" contest. They’re just short of 1/2 inch long and were living under the loose bark of a huge, ancient, dead white oak stump – the oak fell under its own weight about 3 years ago, in Elkton, Oregon. The raised dark spot in the center of the back is very reflective when light hits it at the proper angle. Any idea what these beauties are? Thanks,
John
Hi John,
Your bugs are True Bugs known as Flat Bugs in the family Aradidae and the genus Neruoctenus as evidenced on BugGuide. They feed on fungi under bark.
Water Scorpion
I have a penchant for taking photos of insects while up at the cottage. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting this amazing guy/gal. After the second shot it decided to leave and flew across the lake to the other side. From your site I believe it to be a water scorpion, the first I have seen in the Haliburton/Minden area just south of Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada.
Thank you for your high quality image of a Water Scorpion in the genus Ranatra.
Mammoth Cave Critter Bug Love?
Good Evening,
My friend and I went to Mammoth Cave, KY to photograph some bugs and to say there was an intriguing assortment would be an understatement. There were several critters that I presume were cave dwellers out and about as they had little to no pigment; there were little fuzzy cotton ball aphid types of some kind that if you gently blew on the branch would start dancing and others that were just fantastic looking period. So, I thought I would share and my friend is tremendously curious about the little one that sat as a very patient model on my finger (and his arm). I’ve never seen anything like it. Sincerely,
Teresa
Hi Teresa,
The patient model is an immature Hemipteran, or True Bug. It is most certainly in the family Coreidae, the Leaf Footed Bugs or Big Legged Bugs. Nymphs are often very difficult to identify, but your specimen has such distinctive antennae, we thought it might be easy. The closest we could find on BugGuide is an immature Squash Bug in the genus Anasa, but it is not correct. We will check with Eric Eaton to see if he recognizes this very distinctive nymph.
Great photo of a colorful unknown bug
I sincerely thank you for the most fantastic insect site on earth. You have helped me identify many bugs through all the great pics. I can not find this bug that was found on an enclosed porch in Dayton, Ohio. USA. Thanks in advance for your assist in the I.D. of this colorful bug.
Terry
Hi Again Terry,
Yesterday we wrote you a quick reply identifying your insect as a newly metamorphosed Wheel Bug, one of the Assassin Bugs. We have been thinking about your wonderful image, and wanted to post it. Sometimes time will not permit us to post everything we want to post, but we needed to revisit your submission. Many years ago, we received a similar, though very blurry photo. Your photo is so crisp and sharp and shows the orange coloration of the newly metamorphosed Wheel Bug as well as the black discarded exoskeleton. The orange color will soon darken. This Wheel Bug is still not mature. When it becomes an adult, it will have fully functional wings as well as the signature coglike wheel on its thorax.
Boxelder bugs.
Hi folks!
Two pictures, one of Boxelder Bugs (Boisea trivittata) mating for your Bug love page, and one of a box elder nymph. Sending you the full sized pics so you may crop as needed. They’re also called Garage Bugs, and oddly enough, these bugs were on my garage door!
Cheryl-Anne Miller
Hi Cheryl-Anne,
Thanks for contributing to our Boxelder Bug archive.
Comment: (07/02/2008) THANK YOU..
hahah im so glad you guys answered the boxelder bug question 9078787697867657956 times. i spent all day trying to figure out what they were to see if they were harmful and your site is the only one that helped me.
p.s. im also glad you don’t offer extermination advice. i love bugs. keep up the good work guys.
What’s this bug?
This beetle, found in the Sacramento area of California, appears diurnal, and heat tolerant. Most plentiful in May & June. What am I looking at?
Doc
Hi Doc,
This isn’t a beetle. It is a true bug, one of the Bordered Plant Bugs, Largus californicus. You can see matching images on BugGuide.
Backswimmer
Hello Bugman–
I found this bug in our pool, and after it freaked out the kids and I fished it out, I looked on your site. Sure enough, you had one picture of it, under True Aquatic Bugs. I thought perhaps maybe a few other pictures of a Backswimmer might be of use to you. Thanks for helping me identify it. Also, can’t the Chlorine, or other chemicals in the pool water, kill the bug? Thanks again,
Wendy Richardson
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for sending us another photo of a Backswimmer. One nagging reader, a Truly Candid Girl, might be annoyed, but we haven’t posted a new photo of a Backswimmer in quite some time. Backswimmers are in the Family Notonectidae, and more information can be found on BugGuide where we just noticed the common names Water Bee or Water Wasp, undoubtedly a reference to the bite. The chlorine would probably need to be at a very high concentration to harm the Backswimmer, though the lack of prey like small aquatic insects and other invertebrates will ensure that Backswimmers will not permanently inhabit your pool. Since they fly, they can come and go at will.
Beetle identification
Hi bugman,
I was recently hiking with my fiancee and a few friends outside Todos Santos, Mexico (about an hour and a half north of Cabo San Lucas on the Baja Peninsula, Pacific side). At the top of our hike, my fiancee and I came across this fascinating beetle (image attached). The beetle consistently tracked and followed us, apparently attempting to either copulate with our appendages or hitch a ride. It would approach, I would step over it, and it would turn around and meander back toward me! At one point it climbed up my fiancee’s leg when we weren’t looking, and didn’t seem to do anything else. Later, we walked about 50′ away, and about ten minutes later it came strolling over and tried to climb up one of our friend’s legs. He brushed the beetle away, and it went and sat in the shadow of a rock. After we photographed the beetle, I watched it for a little bit to see what was up. I have a feeling it was simply trying to get to the highest point possible – we were on top of a desert hill, and it would climb to the top of a rock and lift itself a few millimeters, then turn and move around some more. I’ve never seen behavior like this from a beetle. I’ve perused your site now and the closest I found was the bee assassin beetle here , with a follow-up from BugGuide.net here . However, clearly these are similar but not the same. The assassin has a curved back beneath the wings, as well as the orange near the head; both these attributes are missing from my beetle. Do you have any idea what it could be? Thanks!!
Michael
Hi Michael,
Your specimen is definitely an Assassin Bug and not a beetle. We are concerned that it might be a Blood Sucking Conenose Bug or Kissing Bug, a known carrier of Chagas Disease. We will check with Eric Eaton to verify our suspicion.
Daniel,
Thanks for your rapid response! Please let me know as soon as possible if you can accurately identify it as a conenose or kissing bug. If it’s a potential carrier of Chagas’, I definitely would like my fiancee to get a blood test as the bug was on her for an unknown amount of time. Thanks!
Michael
Hi, Daniel:
Yes, it is a blood-sucking conenose, but the species Dipetalogaster maxima most likely. They are much larger than the familiar Triatoma species found north of the border. Poor thing must have been starving if it was chasing those folks in broad daylight. Seriously, though, they are indeed a potential vector of Chagas disease, so it is best to avoid them. Travelers to Latin America are advised to sleep under mosquito netting, and to inspect their beds thoroughly before entering them, especially in rural or remote areas.
Eric
Hi: Can you help me out in identifying this bug? Thank you.
Ana
Hi Ana,
This is an immature Giant Mesquite Bug. Adults have fully developed wings and can fly. If you are writing from Arizona, it is Thasus acutangulus. We also get images of this genus from Mexico, but the markings are a bit different. We are not sure if the Mexican population represents a local color variation, a subspecies, or a different species in the same genus.
Garden bug – on jacob’s ladder and columbine
These bugs are multiplying like crazy and were all over the plants. I must have killed dozens! Any ideas? Thanks,
Sharon
Hi Sharon,
While in Ohio last week, we noticed several of these diminutive Stink Bugs on mom’s columbine, and resolved to identify them when we returned to Los Angeles and internet access. We have been so busy trying to catch up on all of our emails that we hadn’t the time. Your letter provided us with the opportunity to identify the Twice Stabbed Stink Bug, Cosmopepla lintneriana, on BugGuide. Once we had a name, we were able to find a photo online on Dave’s Garden showing the Twice Stabbed Stink Bug on a columbine flower that give a good view of its tiny size.
