So I found a whole colony of these on the side of one of my big containers. I believe they were disturbed when I dug up a dusty miller elsewhere; I'd set the pot I put it in next to this container, and watered it a little. When I moved dusty, these fellas were all over the side of the green pot.


I've been looking through bugguide.net but so far haven't run across this one so thought I'd see if it looks familiar to anybody.

Maybe this one, Kyla. http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

Looks like boxelder to me.

Yes, that's it. There is a maple tree over there in that general vicinity but I really wonder if they were hanging out in the dusty miller roots.

And now I feel bad for killing some of them.

If it was a Boxelder bug you would probably expect to see them on Boxelder or very near.

The shape suggests a nymph in the family Lygaeidae, a seed bug. You can see one which looks similar on this site .. "Seed bug, nymph, 5th instar"

http://colinlmiller.com/wildli...

Some bugs use a specific plant host, Neacoryphus bicrucis appears to use Senecio sp. but the nymph doesn't seem to match that.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

If I could find a list of insects which use Senecio as a host plant it might help.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

I found a Plant-Feeding Insect Database for Illinois which may be of some other use but not necessarily for cultivated plants.

http://www.illinoiswildflowers...

I do under stand the logic of bugs being near host , but this time of year (cold / frost) I have found several different bugs looking for a hibernation place and they seem to like my pots also.

At this time of year here, those bugs are everywhere. Sunny walls will be covered in the mornings as they try (and some usually succeed here ) to get indoors.

Thanks, all! The picture of the boxelder matched these precisely, in fact, and when I looked it up on google (very cursorily) I read that they do feed on maple seeds also. I suspect the area where I moved that dusty miller from was an especially great place for them to hide, congregate, raise their babies, build a city, all that.

I also wonder if they feed, or can feed, on mimosa seeds because hoo lawdy we have tons of those, and the squirrels and the few birds who like them can't keep up.

Well shucks, Bugguide is not working for me at all this morning.

Hoo lawdy. You were raised in the south weren't you Kyla? When I read that, I smiled so big. I heard my mom's voice saying that.

Some info on Boxelder bugs ..

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/p...

I guess the photo is not showing the correct colours if you say it matches yours perfectly Kyla? They should be red with black legs.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG...

Although they are said to use host plants other than the Box Elder, they would more likely use that if it was available.

they make their homes in box elder, maple and ash trees during warmer seasons and migrate into buildings and homes to find shelter for the winter. Adult bugs live and breed on the leaves of box elder trees, laying their eggs in spring.

http://www.orkin.com/other/box...

The adults may hide in places around houses, but nymphs don't have wings.

Box elder bugs inhabit maples and ashes, and seed-bearing box elder trees, in warm seasons

http://www.orkin.com/other/box...

During warm seasons, box elder bugs make their homes on the leaves of ash, maple and box elder trees. These trees provide safety, nourishment and a breeding location for the box elder bug.

Adult box elder bugs lay their eggs inside of host trees or on their leaves.

Box elder nymphs appear similar to their adult counterparts, but are smaller than fully mature specimens

http://www.orkin.com/other/box...

I would have thought Boxelder bugs had fully matured by now:

Most of the nymphs of the second generation grow to full size in August and September

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG...

If they're boxelder (aka Manitoba maple, Acer negundo) bugs there should be a pale longitudinal line down the back with a pale splotch part-way down. I assumed the lack of red colour was a camera effect, but I also can't see a pale line and splotch.

Edit: A similar bug that doesn't have the line and splotch is the
red-shouldered bug Jadera haematoloma, see Bugguide:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

Also, the legs look pale. It's impossible to say what it is, there is a lot of bugs, and nymphs can be very difficult to identify unless they have very distinctive features.

Another picture of the red-shouldered bug at Mobot, some of these come closer to the colour of Kyla's:

http://www.missouribotanicalga...

Agreed, too many similar, we'd have a better chance of identifying it if an adult could be found and pictured.

There are about 11,000 species in North America alone

http://www.ecospark.ca/changin...

It's impossible.

ARGHHHHHHHH!



Okay, well, the Wiki link for the Jadera haematolom makes that ID seem more likely, in fact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...

Given that this one does change what it eats readily.

@JRsbugs, yes, my little camera is not that great with teeny details. But this here Jadera bug looks right too! Some of the photos on google show the wings are a dusky black or gray and cover up that red.

Also, my eyesight isn't super wonderful either, so if there are many bugs that have that great a similarity in appearance, I'm doomed.

@flaflwrgrl, yes, Lord have mercy, I was.

Well bless your little heart.

*snerk*