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Sticker of Boxelder bug
Bug card No. 0174 of 1,500

Boxelder bug

Boisea trivittata
Name means: “three-banded”
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The boxelder bug is a dark brown or black bug with red lines on its back and dark red eyes. Its babies are bright red. In autumn, big groups of them gather on sunny walls, looking for a warm place to spend the winter.

Lives in
Eastern North America, from southern Canada to Guatemala, and now also Chile
Length
1.3 cm (0.51 in)
Top speed
about 0.21 km/h (0.13 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people and pets. It does not bite or sting, but it can give off a bad smell if you bother it.
What does it eat?
It sucks the juice out of the young seeds of boxelder, maple and ash trees.
For real!Photo of Boxelder bug
Picture by Rhododendrites. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Boxelder bug about 1.3 cm long (0.51 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 17 seconds

How big is Boxelder bug compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its scientific name trivittata means three-banded.

2

Few birds or other animals want to eat it, because it tastes bad.

3

In winter it hides inside walls. When the heating comes on, it may think it is spring and crawl into the house.

4

It is usually found on female boxelder trees, because those are the trees that make seeds.

5

In 2020 it was accidentally brought to Chile, where it now lives around the city of Santiago.

you asked

Most asked questions about Boxelder bug

?Are boxelder bugs harmful?

No. They are harmless to people and pets, though they can be a nuisance when many get into a house.

?Why are there boxelder bugs in my house?

In autumn they look for warm places to spend the winter, and sometimes they get inside walls and rooms.

?What do boxelder bugs eat?

Mostly the seeds of boxelder, maple and ash trees.

Myth buster

Myth: The boxelder bug is a stink bug.

Truth: No. It belongs to a different family, called scentless plant bugs. Even so, it can give off a bad smell when it is bothered.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Boisea trivittata
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Rhopalidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Rhopalidae
Lives on
North America, South America
Also known as
Eastern boxelder bug, Box bug, Maple bug

Where the facts come from

  1. Boisea trivittata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Rhododendrites. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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