Leaf-footed Bug
Acanthocephala or Leaf footed Bugs are distinctive, nearly inch-long stately insects in the Coreidae family. Leaf footed bugs are named for the leaf-like expansions of the hind tibia and femora. They have four-segmented antennae, large compound eyes and one pair of ocelli, or simple eyes. The Latin name Acanthocephala means “spiny head.”
All species of Coreidae are plant-feeders. Some Coreids live in leaf litter, but most nymphs and adults live above ground on their host plants where they may feed on seeds, fruits, stems or leaves. Many occur on an astonishing variety of plants, while some are restricted to a single host, such as the squash bug, known for its destructive feeding on cucurbitaceae.
These insects have a distinctive proboscis, a “hypodermic-like” beak. “Like all true bugs, the adults are equipped with a beak, or rostrum, a hypodermic needle-like device carried under the head, which it uses to pierce the plant tissue and suck out liquids. They do not simply "suck out sap" they inject a tissue-dissolving saliva and vacuum out the resulting slurry. Bugs cannot ingest solid food, and widespread damage to the plant is a result of these liquefying enzymes.
Leaf-footed Bug
Acanthocephala or Leaf footed Bugs are distinctive, nearly inch-long stately insects in the Coreidae family. Leaf footed bugs are named for the leaf-like expansions of the hind tibia and femora. They have four-segmented antennae, large compound eyes and one pair of ocelli, or simple eyes. The Latin name Acanthocephala means “spiny head.”
All species of Coreidae are plant-feeders. Some Coreids live in leaf litter, but most nymphs and adults live above ground on their host plants where they may feed on seeds, fruits, stems or leaves. Many occur on an astonishing variety of plants, while some are restricted to a single host, such as the squash bug, known for its destructive feeding on cucurbitaceae.
These insects have a distinctive proboscis, a “hypodermic-like” beak. “Like all true bugs, the adults are equipped with a beak, or rostrum, a hypodermic needle-like device carried under the head, which it uses to pierce the plant tissue and suck out liquids. They do not simply "suck out sap" they inject a tissue-dissolving saliva and vacuum out the resulting slurry. Bugs cannot ingest solid food, and widespread damage to the plant is a result of these liquefying enzymes.