Giant mesquite bug
The giant mesquite bug is a big brown bug with red and black striped legs. Its babies look totally different: they are white and red and cannot fly. It lives in the desert and spends its life on mesquite trees.
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Fun facts
It is the biggest land bug in its whole big group of true bugs.
When it is scared, it sprays a stinky chemical. The babies' spray is strong enough to harm a praying mantis.
The same smell also works as a message that tells other bugs nearby: danger, spread out.
Tiny helpful germs from the soil live in its tummy. Without them, the young bugs cannot survive.
Only the eggs live through the winter. The babies hatch and grow all through spring and summer.
Most asked questions about Giant mesquite bug
?Is the giant mesquite bug dangerous?
No. It does not bite people, but it can spray a smelly liquid if you grab it.
?What does a giant mesquite bug eat?
Sap and sweet seed pods from mesquite trees.
?How big is a giant mesquite bug?
A grown-up is about 5 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Thasus neocalifornicus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Coreidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Coreidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Giant mesquite bug (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 Marshal Hedin. CC BY-SA 2.5, 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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