Subject: Pretty Bug
Geographic location of the bug: Bolsa Chica Reserve, Huntington Beach, CA
Date: 05/22/2018
Time: 02:06 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: We saw many of these colorful bugs on a bladder pod plant. What are they?
How you want your letter signed: Espressive
These colorful Harlequin Stink Bugs, Murgantia histrionica, are commonly found feeding on plants in the cabbage family, so you finding them on bladderpod piqued our curiosity. According to BugGuide: “hosts: primarily Brassicaceae (horseradish, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, mustard, Brussels sprouts, turnip, kohlrabi, radish); may also attack tomato, potato, eggplant, okra, bean, asparagus, beet, weeds, fruit trees and field crops.“
Hi,
Thanks for the fast turnaround! I looked around quite a bit in What’s That Bug and the Bug Guide, but didn’t find these. Thanks for the answer.
Didn’t Charles Darwin once say that all his studies of nature taught him that God is inordinately fond of beetles? (and bugs, too). There are so many, if you don’t have a name to search on it’s just luck trying to find what you’re looking for.
Regards,
Gay