Subject:  Metallic Green w/ black pattern
Geographic location of the bug:  Taveuni, Fiji
Date: 03/27/2020
Time: 05:17 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Is this a jewel beetle? It had landed on this floating seed pod and had not quite tucked his wing away. My underwater camera was already set up for macro so I wiped the lens and shot topside.
Roughly about 2 cm. Segmented antennae. Hard shell. Small thorax.
How you want your letter signed:  Richard

Jewel Bug

Dear Richard,
This is not a Jewel Beetle in the family Buprestidae.  It is not a beetle at all.  This is a Shield Bug in the family Scutelleridae, and because of their often bright, metallic colors, they are sometimes commonly called Jewel Bugs.  So this is a Jewel Bug, not a Jewel Beetle.  We have not had much luck identifying the species, but we did locate a matching image on The Organic Bunny blog, but you have to scroll down to see the unidentified image.

Thank you so much! You are the best!
Richard Todd

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Subject:  Brown and Yellow Beetle?
Geographic location of the bug:  Central Mexico
Date: 03/20/2020
Time: 11:28 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hi WTB! I’ve looked high and low trying to identify this beetle(?) but have had no luck so far. I saw many of them on the leaves of plants in the fields near my house in Mexico. This was taken in September a few years back. It was in a canyon in the desert if that helps. Any ideas? Thanks!
How you want your letter signed:  Danny

Jewel Bug

Dear Danny,
This is not a Beetle.  It is a Shield Bug or Jewel Bug in the family Scutellaridae, and we identified it as Orsilochides scurrilis on Buggin’ Around.  It is also pictured on Naturalista.

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Subject:  bug identification
Geographic location of the bug:  northern Nevada
Date: 08/14/2019
Time: 01:18 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  These came in a couple of days ago and now they’re everywhere.
How you want your letter signed:  Harold

Immature Conchuela Bug

Dear Harold,
This is an immature Stink Bug called the Conchuela Bug, Chlorochroa ligata.  Here is an image from BugGuide.  According to BugGuide:  “prefers fleshy fruits of various plants, especially agarita, balsam-gourd and mesquite; also on sage, yucca, mustards, prickly pear (Opuntia), and various crops (cotton, alfalfa, corn, sorghum, grapes, peas, tomatoes, etc.); primarily a seed feeder preferring leguminous plants (once mesquite beans dry, the bugs move to more succulent plants). many observed, including likely eggs and nymphs, on allthorn (Koeberlinia spinosa).”

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Subject:  Round black beetle with white margin and 6 white spots on rear of abdomen
Geographic location of the bug:  Reno NV foothills 6000’ elevation
Date: 08/01/2019
Time: 02:00 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  These smallish round beatles have surprised us by coming into the house by the dozens.  Never saw them before. They are in scattered locations, mostly on the floor, and I don’t move much, but can move slowly or rather quickly if disturbed. I can’t figure out what they want or what they eat. Several are on the doorstep, anxious to come in if the door is opened.
They are round black beetles with white margin and 6 white spots on rear of abdomen.
How you want your letter signed:  Carolyn

Conchuela Stink Bug Nymph

Dear Carolyn,
This is not a Beetle.  It is an immature Stink Bug, and based on this BugGuide image, it is in the genus Chlorochroa, probably the Conchuela Stink Bug.  According to BugGuide:  “prefers fleshy fruits of various plants, especially agarita, balsam-gourd and mesquite; also on sage, yucca, mustards, prickly pear (Opuntia), and various crops (cotton, alfalfa, corn, sorghum, grapes, peas, tomatoes, etc.); primarily a seed feeder preferring leguminous plants (once mesquite beans dry, the bugs move to more succulent plants). “

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Subject:  Red and black striped stink bug
Geographic location of the bug:  Montenegro
Date: 07/26/2019
Time: 07:04 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Thought you might like to know we found this guy in Montenegro Kotor Bay
How you want your letter signed:  Frangipanimoonflower

Striped Bug

Dear Frangipanimoonflower,
According to iNaturalist, this boldly colored and marked Stink Bug, Graphosoma lineatum, is commonly called a Striped Bug or Minstrel Bug.  The site states:  “The orange and black warning colours (aposematism) indicate that the insects are foul-tasting, protecting them from predators. The nymphs do not have the orange-black stripe pattern, instead they are mostly brownish.”

Ed. Note:  We thought we needed to do additional research on the name Minstrel Bug, and we have decided upon further reflection to change the name of both the subject line of this posting and the caption on the image to Striped Bug.  A minstrel is, according to Merriam-Webster:  “one of a class of medieval musical entertainers especially : a singer of verses to the accompaniment of a harp wandering minstrels,”  but a more recent meaning entered the language with this definition:  “a member of a type of performance troupe caricaturing black performers that originated in the U.S. in the early 19th century.  NOTE: The acts of minstrels, who typically performed in blackface, featured exaggerated and inaccurate representations of black people in songs, dances, and comic dialogue. The popularity of minstrel shows in their heyday played a significant role in promoting negative racial stereotypes. Professional minstrel shows had fallen out of favor and effectively disappeared by the mid-20th century.”  What really interested us was how the black and red stripes of the Striped Bug related to minstrel costumes, and our initial searching located this image with a fascinating reversal of a racially insensitive representation of the other on the National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago where this statement is posted:  “Minstrel of old sang plantation songs and other American songs like ‘Swanee River’ and dressed in a variety of costumes e.g. Uncle Sam tailcoat, pinstripe trousers, white gloves and felt top hat.”  To add further confusion to the common name Minstrel Bug, this insect is European, and we can’t imagine how a decidedly American negative stereotype came to be used for the name of a European insect.

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