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
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).”