Flag Footed Bug from Brazil: Diactor bilineatus

What’s That Bug? found this beautiful insect never seen anything like it!!
Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 5:32 AM
found this insect in sao paulo Brazil in the garden of the house had never seen something
would you identify the species!!?!
thanks
William Martins
SÃO PAULO -BRASIL

Dear William,
In North America, members of the family Coreidae are known as Big Legged Bugs or Leaf Footed Bugs. There is one Central American species, Anisocelis flavolineata, that is called the Flag Footed Bug. Several years ago, we posted a wonderful image of a mating pair of Flag Footed Bugs. Then, in November 2008, we received an awesome image of an insect from Costa Rica that appears to be closely related to Anisocelis flavolineata, but is distinctively different in coloration. That insect matches your insect. It is still unidentified, but we are calling it a Flag Footed Bug as well. We hope this time, one of our readers will be able to give us an exact species identification. Your letter is the only one we will be posting this morning. We are busy trying to save the planet one California Black Walnut studded hillside at a time. We have a local Land Issue appeal to prepare for and though we do not have the temerity to compare our couple of acres of natural wilderness in the middle of Los Angeles, in view of the Griffith Observatory and Downtown, to the ravaging of the rain forest in either Brazil or Costa Rica, we are doing what we can to preserve diversity of habitat and open spaces in our own front yard on Mount Washington.

Update: Submitted on 2009/06/19 at 12:05pm
Hi! I believe Williams´s insect is Diactor bilineatus (Fabricius, 1803). In Brazil is called percevejo do maracujá, because is usually found on passion vines (maracujá: Passiflora)
Kind regards from San Antonio Oeste, in Patagonia, Argentina
Mirta

Hi Mirta,
The photo of Diactor bilineatus on TrekNature identified by Annette Aiello Staff Scientist
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute looks related to the insect posted, but definitely a different species or at least a completely different color variation. There is one posted on FlickR that looks closer, but the coloration is still different.

A note on behavior
Dear What’s That Bug – thanks to your site I was able to identify a
fantastic bug I saw this morning (May 2, 2011) in Rio de Janeiro on a
passionfruit vine as Diactor bilineatus:
2009/06/19/unknown-flag-footed-bug-from-brazil/
I might add a comment regarding behavior – when we leaned close to
look at the bug, it slowly waved its hind legs, which seemed like a
good way to distract a predator, as the hind legs flags look almost
like little butterflies. I was horrified not to have a camera with me.
Your site is a really great resource. Thanks for providing it.
Ona

Thanks Ona,
We will post your comment.

Update:  August 5, 2012
While trying to clean up old unidentified posts, we decided to see if we could find a matching photo for Diactor bilineatus, and we were lucky with this TrekNature image where this information is provided:  “Diactor Bilineatus Percevejo d Maracujá:  Bug DIACTOR BILINEATUS the insect is the Diactor bilineatus, says the researcher of the Biological Institute of São Paulo, Sergio IDE It explains that it is about a species of chinch-bug popularly known as chinch-bug-do-maracujá. The adults reach up to 20 millimeters of length, are of green-dark coloration, with three orange lines that go of the head until escutelo. The posterior legs present an expansion in the tibia in leaf form of dark coloration and with orange points. The eggs are placed in the inferior face of leves, being that each position is composed in the maximum of ten eggs and the incubation period is of 15 days. The nymphs (young forms), say the researcher, suck the seiva of the aerial part of the plants during a period of 45 days and before if transforming into adults the nymphs they pass for urging. The longevity of the adult is of 30 days, of form that the complete cycle of the species they live approximately two months, depending on the climatic conditions. The nymphs of this species suck the seiva of the floral buttons and new fruits, and the adults also attack leves, branches and fruits of any age. The floral buttons and attacked new fruits generally fall and the greaters become wrinkled. The control can be made with the manual removal of eggs, nymphs and adults. Use of gloves sends regards to it to remove them.”