Subject: Leaf-footed bug?
Location: Orosi, COsta Rica
September 20, 2015 12:02 pm
Found this bug while walking in the mountains of Costa Rica.
There were several nearby.
Very unusual looking legs.
I had never heard of “leaf footed” bugs before but that certainly seams to define this one.
Can you identify!
Is it harmful to the farms?
Thank you.
Signature: BCR
Dear BCR,
Leaf Footed Bug is a non-specific family name for the group of True Bugs further classified in the family Coreidae, but several Central and South American species like your magnificent Anisocelis flavolineata are commonly called Flag Footed Bugs because the tibiae of the hind legs are especially banner-like. Like other True Bugs, Flag Footed Bugs have mouths adapted to piercing and sucking, and though we have not been able to determine a preferred food in our online searching, many images depict them on Passionflower Vines, so we suspect that might be a preferred food.
Found this bug in Tortuguero Costa Rica and yes it was on top of a passion fruit vine flower,very beautiful appeared to wave its flag footed legs to scare away other small flying insects saw 2 of them butt to butt appeared to be mating but that’s only my guess as I have never encountered them before