Red Stinkbug Nymph with Brown and Dark Green Markings
Sandy found this fairly large, mostly-red stinkbug nymph on June 27, 2010. It was over a centimeter long (just about half an inch).
This is broadly similar to some predatory stink bug nymphs that I posted previously, but differing quite a lot in detail, with the colors being mostly brown, red, and dark metallic green.
It is clearly a nymph, though, because it hasn’t grown in its wings yet.
The underside is creamy white with red speckles.
And we can see that it has a thick, robust proboscis. Most plant-feeding bugs have a thin proboscis suitable for drilling into cellulose-rich plants, but this one’s is far too thick to easily drive into plant stems or leaves. I think this heavy proboscis is much more characteristic of predatory bugs. Overall, it looks a lot like it is in the family Asopinae, the predatory stink bugs.
Surprisingly, this colorful and intricately patterned bug is hard to identify further. The coloration is evidently a distraction. On the BugGuide page, there is a quote from D. B. Thomas that “In identifying asopines it helps to be color blind.” Evidently they all look similar as nymphs, and the coloration pattern is probably variable within a species. And once they grow up, they generally lose most of their bright coloration for some reason.
So next time I find one of these, I’ll just have to try raising it up to see what the adult looks like. Presumably they will eat caterpillars, so feeding them should be easy enough.
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Apoecilus nymph