Category Archives: Hemiptera

True bugs, hoppers, aphids, whiteflies, & scale insects. Largest order of Exopterygota. Fossil record from Lower Permian to Recent. Predominantly plant feeding insects, some predaceous or parasitic.

Answer to ID Challenge #4 – Aetalion reticulatum

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

ID Challenge #4 seems to have been a little more difficult than I anticipated – only a few people mustered the courage to even hazard a guess, of whom TGIQ emerged with maximum points to take the win.  Looking sort of like a cross … Continue reading →

Posted in Aetalionidae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Brazil Bugs #7 – Cigarrinhas

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

It seems that North American entomologists have returned en masse from their various tropical winter travels – Alex and Brigette have returned from their respective trips to Ecuador, Troy has come back from Costa Rica, and I am now back home … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicadellidae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brazil Bugs #4 – Mais dos percevejos

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

I found mais dos percevejos (more of the leaf-footed bugs) on the still-unnamed pink flowering shrub in back of the hotel in Campinas, Brazil.  Not only am I convinced that they truly do belong to the family Coreidae (for the reasons mentioned in … Continue reading →

Posted in Coreidae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Brazil Bugs #2

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

A few more photographs from this past week in Campinas, Brazil.  It rained during the afternoon but stopped by the time I arrived back at the hotel, allowing me to stroll the lavishly landscaped grounds during the mild evening hours.  There … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicadidae, Coccinelidae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Sarcophagidae, Vespidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Brazil Bugs #1

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Ted C. MacRae

ID Challenge #3 update: I knew this would be a hard one, and so far nobody has figured this one out (only one commenter got the right order!).  I’ve released the comments gotten so far so you can see where things stand, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Coreidae, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Noctuidae | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

A “leafless” leaf-footed bug

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Ted C. MacRae

This is Merocoris distinctus, a true bug in the family Coreidae whose members are usually recognized by their distinctive flattened hind tibiae (and hence the common name, leaf-footed bugs). This diminutive species, however, lacks that character, instead sporting strangely curved … Continue reading →

Posted in Coreidae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments

BitB Best of 2009

Posted on December 30, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

In my first post of 2009, I looked back at the photographs I had posted during 2008 and picked some of my personal favorites. I hesitated then to call myself a photographer (and still do), but I at least now … Continue reading →

Posted in Apidae, Arachnida, Asilidae, Cicadidae, Cicindelidae, Coleoptera, Conopidae, Diapheromeridae, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Phasmida, Reptilia, Scorpiones | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Cicadetta kansa in Oklahoma

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Ted C. MacRae

Another of the insects that I saw this past June at Four Canyon Preserve in northwestern Oklahoma was this small cicada, Cicadetta kansa. Though not as small as the diminutive Beameria venosa (see North America’s smallest cicada), their barely audible … Continue reading →

Posted in Cicadidae, Hemiptera | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments