Spartocera fusca

This large and strikingly marked leaf-footed bug (family Coreidae) is Spartocera fusca. The lack of common name is pretty criminal for this strikingly marked orange and black species that’s almost 3 cm long. S. fusca is native to “Mexico, the southwestern United States, and Florida”, because everything makes its way to Florida eventually. It eats…

Harmostes Serratus

Harmostes serratus is distinguished from other North American species in the genus by the toothed (serrated) edges of the pronotum (the bit behind the head). This little dude is in the family Rhopalidae, known as “scentless plant bugs” because, although these insects look like and are (distantly) related to stink bugs, they are not actually…

Leaf-Footed Bug

This is probably an adult female leaf-footed bug (Acanthocephala declivis) — this species is named for the exaggerated “femurs” on its back legs, and the femurs are larger in the male, with impressive spikes. She’s about an inch and a half long, not including her antennae. Leaf-footed bugs are named after the “leafy” extensions of…