Anyone know what this little guy is?

Old Hippie 9/19/2010, 3:47 pm

I found him on the leaf of my sunflower the other day. In fact, I almost missed him because he blended in so well. I moved him to the flower to take his picture and was delighted with the contrast in colours. Because I didn't know if he was a goodie or a baddie I left him be after taking some photos of him.
Anyone know what this little guy is? Green_11

Anyone know what this little guy is? Green_11

Anyone know what this little guy is? Green_12

I don't think the "smile recognition" feature was working on my camera.

His body was about 1/2" long.

GK

**camprn** 9/19/2010, 4:13 pm

I am no expert but it looks like a True Bug, a Stinkbug. I believe it is beneficial, though I am not 100% sure. Read more about bugs.

ander217 9/19/2010, 6:36 pm

It looks like a green stink bug to me.

In small numbers they don't do much damage, but if they reproduce in large numbers as they have this year, they are harmful. They suck the juices from tomatoes, strawberries, and apples, making hard spots and deformed or cat-faced fruit. (I've noticed that strawberries bitten by a stink bug always seem sweeter.)They also eat beans, peas, corn, eggplant, and this summer there have been great numbers of them biting my okra, causing the pods to curl under instead of grow straight. They can also eat the stems of plants causing damage. I wish I had destroyed them when I first saw them in my garden back in the spring. I've never seen them in such great numbers.

If you crush one, you'll know it by its distinctive smell. Some people are allergic to their "juice".

Megan 9/19/2010, 6:38 pm

That looks like a green version of a squash bug. Squish it!!!

pattipan 9/19/2010, 7:19 pm

I believe it's a Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilaris), and it is NOT beneficial!

Food: Feeds on plant juices from leaves, fruit, flowers. Feeds on trees, herbs, many crops. Adults and older nymphs are reported to prefer developing seeds and fruit and thus may become crop pests. "Catfacing" on developing peaches and nectarines is one type of damage to which these bugs are known to contribute (feeding by other bugs causes similar results).

See this link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/9066

pattipan

**camprn** 9/19/2010, 7:32 pm

Here is reference says some stink bugs are predatory, eating other bug eggs and caterpillars. link. And some of them are damaging to plants.

Old Hippie 9/19/2010, 7:49 pm

Thanks everyone. I have never seen one before and I couldn't find anything on line when I looked. When you google "green leaf bugs" you get over 4000 items. Thought it would be faster checking with you and I was right. I checked out some of the links you posted and yes indeed you have identified him or her correctly. I will watch for any more as well as look for eggs.

GK

sceleste54 9/20/2010, 1:07 am

Also Google "Leaf Footed Bugs"...

cautery 12/12/2010, 11:19 am

Wouldn't it be useful to have a reference thread where a good picture and the ID/threat/benefit info is stored? Just thinkin'...

Megan 12/12/2010, 11:28 am

cautery wrote:Wouldn't it be useful to have a reference thread where a good picture and the ID/threat/benefit info is stored? Just thinkin'...

That's a great idea, cautery. It's just there are so MANY of the little buglings out there, that there are entire professional websites devoted to the purpose...and then there's Google, too. Smile

**camprn** 12/12/2010, 11:31 am

There are a bunch of image data bases about garden pests and insect on the web. Google images are my friends! What a Face

cautery 12/12/2010, 4:43 pm

Yes, of course... I just figured a dedicate sub-set of "all the insects that live" limited to the ones that most concern the gardener....

I love Google Images, Maps, Videos, et al...

boffer 12/12/2010, 5:10 pm

cautery wrote:Wouldn't it be useful to have a reference thread where a good picture and the ID/threat/benefit info is stored? Just thinkin'...

It would, and there's a dozen other reference lists some of us would like to have. We tried to make some, but ended up deciding it wasn't feasible. Forums aren't made for cataloging information. The process would have to be way too manual for a volunteer forum.

Sorry I'm a little late here, but welcome aboard!

cautery 12/12/2010, 6:09 pm

Thanks boffer.... Yep, without a backend database guru, you're kinda out of luck these days...

ander217 12/13/2010, 10:01 am

Sorry I'm late saying welcome to the forum, Clay. This is a great place to share SFG information, and I've found the people here to be very helpful. We love to see photos of your garden, too.

$glad you\'re here$

cautery 12/13/2010, 1:05 pm

No apology necessary... Thanks!

graficow 12/14/2010, 5:17 pm

I had quite a few of them this summer sucking the life out of all of my sunflowers. I tried all kinds of things to get rid of them, mostly squashing them but there were always far too many and they killed all my sunflowers.

Anyone know how to get rid of them?

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