This interesting insect is native to much of North America and occurs from British Columbia, Canada, south to California and east to Nevada, Utah and Texas. It can be found wherever its principle host Boxelder, occurs.

The adult Western Boxelder Bug is around 1/2 inch long, and about a third that in width. Its topside is grayish-black and has several reddish lines running across it. Its prominent red veins on its wings are a good way to differentiate it from the Common Boxelder Bug.

The Boxelder is a small to medium sized tree that is the most widely distributed of the North American Maples. Boxelder Bugs generally confine their feeding to seeds or fruits and, other than reducing the quantity of viable seed or damaging fruits, they do not injure their host plants.

During certain times of the year boxelder bugs cluster together in large groups while sunning themselves on warm surfaces (rocks, shrubs, trees, and man-made structures) near their host tree.

Belonging to an order of insects known as Hemiptera, all Hemiptera have piercing-sucking mouthparts and outer wings that are half-leathery and half membranous, which is the origin of the order name meaning “half-wing.” Most insects in this order are plant feeders.

Western Boxelder Bugs survive the Winter as adults in protected places around home landscapes and inside unheated parts of buildings. They sometimes become active outdoors during warm sunny days in late Winter. But their active season doesn’t really begin until temperatures regularly reach 70 degrees and their host trees begin having leaves.

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While visiting Bronxville, New York, I noticed several insects on the wall outside a sports outfitter store. The Spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect insect from Asia that primarily feeds on Trees of Heaven (Alianthus altissima) but can also eat a wide variety of plants, such as grapevine, hops, maple, walnut, and fruit trees.

The Spotted Lanternfly belongs to a family known as planthoppers – this name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment and that they often “hop” for quick transportation in a similar way to that of grasshoppers. However, planthoppers generally walk very slowly.

Like other True Bugs, planthoppers begin life as an egg and then, growing, undergo a number of immature stages (nymphs) before a final molt renders them a winged, sexually mature adult.

Adults begin to appear in July and are approximately 1 inch long and ½ inch wide at rest, with eye-catching wings. Their forewings are grayish with black spots. The lower portions of their hindwings are red with black spots and the upper portions are dark with a white stripe. They are laterally flattened and hold their broad wings vertically, in a tent-like fashion, concealing the sides of the body and part of the legs.

The Spotted Lanternfly is indigenous to parts of China and Vietnam. In addition to the United States, it has also spread invasively to Japan and South Korea. Planthoppers use their wings to assist these jumps rather than to make sustained flights. On September 29, 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Game Commission first confirmed the presence of the Spotted Lanternfly in Berks County, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia.

Although it is an attractive-looking insect, a large potential range exists for the Spotted Lanternfly to become established in almost all of the eastern part of the United States, as well as critical wine- and hop-growing valleys of the Pacific coastal states.

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This was a super cool creature that I encountered while on my trip to southern Illinois. It is sometimes called a Needle Bug or Water Stick Insect.

They are more commonly called “Water Scorpions” due to their superficial resemblance to scorpions – raptorial forelegs and the presence of a long slender tube at the posterior end of their abdomen, which resembles a tail.

These insects mostly inhabit stagnant or slow-moving freshwater habitats like ponds, marshes, canals and streams. Though they do not sting with their tail, but they do have a painful bite, although it much less harmful to humans than a true scorpion’s sting.

Water Scorpions are rather poor swimmers and typically crawl about on aquatic vegetation. To swim, they rely on an alternating oar-like movement of their second and third pairs of legs to slowly propel them along; they are built much more for camouflage than they are for swimming. They can fly, but this is an infrequently seen behavior.

An underwater predator, the Water Scorpion hides among dead leaves where it waits to ambush its prey. Its tail actually acts as a kind of “snorkel,” rather than a stinger, so it rests hind-end-upward with the tip of this tube projecting above the water surface; therefore it can stay submerged for long periods of time.

Their front legs are modified into pincer-like grabbers that are used to grasp their prey. They feed primarily on aquatic invertebrates such as other insects, as well as worms, but occasionally take small fish or tadpoles.

Interestingly, Water Scorpions produce sound by friction. In this case, a leg segment is rubbed against the body, making noise underwater. Sometimes a faint squeak can be heard from a Water Scorpion that is pulled from the water.

When fully grown, this species measure about two inches in length, from the tip of their tail-like breathing tube, to their head. This slow-moving, cryptically colored and shaped invertebrate was a fun find while exploring the Land of Lincoln.

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This species of North American true bug ranges from the southern United States to Guatemala and some Caribbean islands.

It is the largest of this genus within this range, often growing to be 1-1/4 inches long. Leaf-footed bugs are named for the spines and flat dilations on their hind legs.

The Giant Leaf-footed Bug can be distinguished from similar species by its much more broadly expanding shield, which is wider than its abdomen.

Leaf-footed bugs are are plant-feeders. They live above ground on their host plants where they may feed on seeds, fruits, stems or leaves.

Like all true bugs, the adults are equipped with a beak, a hypodermic needle-like device carried under the head, which they uses to pierce the plant tissue and suck out liquids.

This was the first time I’ve ever encountered this impressive insect and it was a welcome find on Thanksgiving Weekend in Central Illinois.

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While walking on Snake Road in southern Illinois this month, I saw this curious looking creature on a tree. It was too thin-bodied to be a Walking Stick and it also had the ability to fly.

Thread-legged Bugs are are a type of Assassin Bug, which means they have piercing, sucking mouthparts that look like a long, pointy straw. They pierce the exoskeleton of their insect prey and suck out the insides.

Though the raptorial front legs are reminiscent of those of a Preying Mantis, the Thread-Legged Bug is not closely related to the mantis. This insect walks around on four long, impossibly thin legs and snatches its prey with its forelegs before stabbing it with its pointy mouth.

Like other Assassin Bugs, Thread-Legged Bugs are beneficial predators. I had never come across one of these before and it was an awesome encounter.

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This year has been a special one for fans of insects in northeast Ohio. The emergence of millions of ciciadas occured. Magicicada is the genus of the 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas of eastern North America.

They have spent the past 17 years underground as nymphs feeding on fluids from roots of deciduous trees. At night, when it gets warm enough, the nymphs climb the nearest available tree (or man-made structure), and begin to shed their nymph exoskeleton.

In the morning their exoskeletons could be seen in large numbers, where the creatures which the creatures that previously lived underground, see light for the first time after more than a decade and a half of a subterranean lifestyle. They also get wings.

Free of their old skin, their wings inflate with fluid and their adult skin hardens. Once their new wings and body are ready, they can begin their brief adult life, which lasts 4 to 6 weeks.

As an adult, a cicada has one job to do: make baby cicadas. To accomplish this task, an adult male will spend the last part of his life in furious song. Their sounds are sometimes reminiscent of chirps, rattles, or high-pitched screams, and when males gather in trees to form a chorus, the noise can exceed 100 decibels. Their song can be heard by females up to a mile away.

A single brood can contain billions of cicadas, with as 1.5 million insects per square acre in some parts of the region. Simultaneously emerging in such great numbers is a survival strategy known as predator satiation.

With a lifespan of 17 years, cicadas are among the longest-living insects on earth.

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Walking near the Cache River in southern Illinois, I came across this awesome insect. The Wheel Bug is one of the largest terrestrial true bugs in North America, being up to 1-1/2 inches in length. It features a wheel-shaped structure on its back; this is the only insect species in the United States with such a crest.

A type of Assassin Bug, Wheel Bugs are predators upon soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, which they pierce with their beak to inject salivary fluids that dissolve soft tissue. Because most of their prey are pests, wheel bugs are considered as beneficial to man. They are also known for eating Stink Bugs.

These insects are common in eastern North America, although most residents where they live have never seen them. Wheel Bugs are well-camouflaged and very shy, hiding in leafy habitat whenever possible. They have wings which allow for clumsy, noisy flight.

Once you see a Wheel Bug, you are not likely to forget it. Not only is it the largest member of Assassin Bugs, their bizarre appearance makes quite an impression. It was very cool to come across this terror of the insect world, which I’ve only seen once before.

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Here’s an insect that I recently found in my house. The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, an insect not previously seen on our continent, was apparently accidentally introduced into eastern Pennsylvania about 10-15 years ago.

It is native to China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. This insect feeds on a wide range of fruits, vegetables and other plants. It is a sucking insect, a “true bug”, that uses its straw-like mouth to pierce a host plant in order to feed.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs are attracted to the outsides of houses on warm Fall days while searching for protected, overwintering sites. They occasionally reappear during warmer, sunny periods throughout the Winter, and again when they emerge in the Spring.

They are the typical “shield” shape of other stink bugs, almost as wide as they are long, which is less than an inch. The name “stink bug” refers to the scent glands which release an odor when the insect feels threatened. This prevents it from being eaten by many types of birds and lizards.

Adults can live from several months to a year. While sometimes confused with native stink bugs, to identify this species accurately, examine its antennae for alternating bands of light and dark on the last two segments.

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There are more around the house that stay hidden, though on warm Fall, Winter and Spring days they can be seen in the open, catching the warm sun’s rays. They are able to fly and make a buzzing noise when airborne.

The Western Conifer Seed Bug feeds on the sap of developing conifer cones throughout its life. Their primary defense is to spray a bitter, offending smell; though to humans sometimes it can smell pleasantly of apples or pine sap.

This insect was first described in the western United States and has been expanding its range eastward. It was first detected in Pennsylvania in 1992.

Western Conifer Seed Bugs overwinter as adults under protective debris for shelter. They are harmless to people and kind of cool to have hanging around the house. Their flat bodies allow them to wedge themselves into small cracks and sometimes they end up inside homes.

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It was amusing to watch a group of these attempt to capture any insect that landed on the flowers – sometimes butterflies much bigger than themselves.

There are at least 100 species of Assassin Bugs, named because of their habit of lying in ambush for their insect prey.

With speed and accuracy, this bug uses its long beak to stab the victim and then inject it with a lethal toxin that dissolves the victim’s tissue, then it sucks up the liquefied tissue.

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