Subject: Pomegranate bug
Location: North Phoenix Arizona
August 19, 2017 3:31 pm
Hi! I was taking pictures of my dad’s overgrown pomegranate tree yesterday and looked at the pictures more closely today to find a bug that I can’t identify with my google searches. Had I noticed it when I was taking he pictures I would have tried to get a better picture! I’ve nicknamed him Mickey.
Signature: Kt
Dear Kt,
This is a Leaf Footed Bug in the genus Leptoglossus from the family Coreidae, and all members of the family feed on plants, including many garden crops. Leaf Footed Bugs use their proboscis to pierce the wall of a plant, on stems, leaves, flowers and/or fruits, and they feed by sucking nutrients. This has a detrimental effect on young growth which might become stunted. When they feed on fruits, they inject an enzyme that renders the vicinity around the bite rather discolored and unpalatable to humans. According to BugGuide: “Two yellowish spots on the forward part of the pronotum are distinctive” of Leptoglossus zonatus.