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Green Stink Bug Nymph

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Subject:  Unidentified Beetle
Geographic location of the bug:  New Jersey
Date: 10/28/2018
Time: 11:29 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  This bug was just walking on our carpet and I thought it would be easy to identify.  Ah, nope.  I have looked at hundreds of pictures and can’t spot it.
It is black, with 2 yellow dots and some small yellow stripes on the tail.  6 legs.
How you want your letter signed:  Lee

Green Stink Bug Nymph

Dear Lee,
This is not a beetle.  It is a Green Stink Bug nymph, Chinavia hilaris, and it is pictured on BugGuide. 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Mating Rough Stink Bugs

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Subject:  Mating Stink Bugs
Geographic location of the bug:  Jacksonville, Florida
Date: 09/22/2018
Time: 09:50 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  I saw these flat, mating bugs that look like some sort of stink bug.  The picture was taken 9/22/2018 around 12:30 PM.
How you want your letter signed:  EK Gilley

Mating Rough Stink Bugs

Dear EK Gilley,
These are indeed mating Stink Bugs.  More specifically, they are mating Tree Stink Bugs or Rough Stink Bugs in the genus Brochymena.  According to BugGuide:  “Usually bark-like (cryptic). Lateral teeth on juga. Head elongated, pronotum laterally with toothlike projections, and rear margin of abdomen has pleated pattern.”  We haven’t posted a new image representing this genus in over a decade and we have learned quite a bit since then.  We used to write that they are a predatory species (a claim we never source cited) but we have come to realize this is not always the case, and as BugGuide indicates, they are:  “phytophagous (some reports of predation).” 

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Mating Stink Bugs

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Subject:  Blue beetle?
Geographic location of the bug:  Homestead , FL
Date: 09/10/2018
Time: 07:40 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Found about 15-20 of  these pairing up in the hedges near the Dante Fascell visitor center of biscayne National Park. Can you give me an ID?
How you want your letter signed:  Lisa

Stink Bug

Dear Lisa,
These are not Beetles.  They are Stink Bugs and we identified them as Murgantia violascens thanks to BugGuide where it states the range is:  “FL / W. Indies, BG records are from Key West.”  The species is also pictured on iNaturalist.

Stink Bug

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Spined Soldier Bug Eggs on Woody Plant

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Subject:  Insect ID
Geographic location of the bug:  North Central Massachusetts
Date: 08/29/2018
Time: 05:18 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Can you please ID this bug I found on my cannabis plant?
How you want your letter signed:  thanks, Hammer

Spined Soldier Bug Eggs

Dear Hammer,
These are Stink Bug eggs, and generally, if a gardener finds a cluster of Stink Bug eggs on a cherished plant, it would be a problem, but thank to this BugGuide image, we have identified the eggs you found as those of a predatory Spined Soldier Bug in the genus Podisus.  If you have not destroyed the eggs, we would urge you to return them or allow them to hatch and return the nymphs back to the plant because according to BugGuide:  “preys on a wide variety of other arthropods, especially larval forms of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Examples: known to eat Mexican bean beetles, European corn borers, diamondback moths, corn earworms, beet armyworms, fall armyworms, cabbage loopers, imported cabbageworms, Colorado potato beetles, and velvetbean caterpillars.”  We have learned that the Tobacco Budworm, Heliothis virescens, a species of Cutworm, can decimate a budding Cannabis plant that is close to harvest by burrowing into the center of the bud and feeding from the inside out without being detected until the entire bud turns brown. Here is a BugGuide image of the hatchling Spined Soldier Bugs so you can recognize them, and recognizing the adult Spined Soldier Bug will allow you to maintain the species in your garden so your crop will be more organic. 

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Predatory Stink Bug Nymph eats Caterpillar

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Subject:  What bug is this?
Geographic location of the bug:  Cincinnati,  ohio
Date: 08/28/2018
Time: 09:34 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hi! We found this guy munching on some caterpillars on our kale plant.  Any idea what kind of big this is?
How you want your letter signed:  Ginja ninja

Predatory Stink Bug Nymph eats Caterpillar

Dear Ginja ninja,
The predator is a Stink Bug nymph and we have identified it as an immature Spined Soldier Bug, a member of the genus Podisus, thanks to this BugGuide image.  According to BugGuide:  “preys on a wide variety of other arthropods, especially larval forms of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. known to eat Mexican bean beetles, European corn borers, diamondback moths, corn earworms, beet armyworms, fall armyworms, cabbage loopers, imported cabbageworms, Colorado potato beetles, and velvetbean caterpillars.”  We will attempt to identify your Moth Caterpillar as well, but we are surmising that since it was found on kale, it is most likely an undesirable species.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Nymphs

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Subject:  Little Stinkers
Geographic location of the bug:  Andover, NJ
Date: 08/18/2018
Time: 03:56 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hi Daniel,
Just a share.  I found a little cluster of what I believe to be Marmolated Stink Bugs on a hibiscus plant and have been keeping an eye on them.  At first they move around together like a little battalion – very cute.  Today, however, they molted and started setting out on their own.  All were black except one that is white.  I thought that was odd, but read here that sometimes freshly molted nymphs of this species are white, so assume that is what it is.  I am attached a couple of photos showing both color variations as well as one of a nymph inspecting the exuvia, almost as if to say “I can’t believe I used to fit into that thing.”
Hope you are having a great, buggy weekend.
How you want your letter signed:  Deborah Bifulco

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug nymph

Hi Deborah,
Based on this BugGuide image, your nymphs are in the second instar phase, meaning they have molted once since hatching.  They change and get larger after each molt.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug nymphs

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug nymphs

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination