If you’ve been reading this blog for a bit you may have noticed I can’t resist a good bug identification mystery. Someday maybe I will learn about insects properly, but for now I’m happy to take pictures of the ones in my yard and try to learn what they are.
Here’s one of my latest discoveries. I think it’s a beaut:
Here it is crawling on my strangely blossom-free marigolds.
It’s a leaffooted bug nymph, Hemiptera/Heteroptera: Coreidae.
Read up on this monster and other stink bug types here.
They prefer native plants but move on to garden and field crops when they run out of their favorites and start on some of my favorites such as beans, okra, tomatoes, strawberries, and more.
They’ve been sucking some of the juice out of my tomatoes and cucumbers near the stem, but not doing much damage, thankfully.
I held out a similar but smaller stink bug to one of my hens and when she got her beak near it she shook her head and backed off. I guess the smell got to her.
Clever bug.
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