Eastern leaf-footed bug
The eastern leaf-footed bug is a brown bug with flat, leaf-shaped flaps on its back legs. It sucks juice from fruits, vegetables and seeds in gardens. If you pick it up, it gives off a nasty smell.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
When it sucks a fruit, it squirts a little poison into it, which leaves hard, discoloured spots.
Its babies are bright orange.
Grown-ups are very hard to kill with bug spray, so gardeners often just pick them off by hand.
Males make a special smell to send messages to other leaf-footed bugs.
Most asked questions about Eastern leaf-footed bug
?Why is it called a leaf-footed bug?
Because its back legs have flat flaps that look like little leaves.
?Is the eastern leaf-footed bug harmful?
Not to people. It can damage tomatoes, peaches, beans and other crops.
?Does the eastern leaf-footed bug stink?
Yes. It gives off a bad smell when it is handled.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Leptoglossus phyllopus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Coreidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Coreidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Leptoglossus phyllopus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Russ Ottens. CC BY 3.0 us, 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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