Introduction to Bugs
Bug, a name often given to any kind of insect but that properly belongs only to insects of the order Hemiptera. True bugs include water bugs (such as the electric-light bug), stinkbugs, and the bedbug, chinch bug, and squash bug. Such insects as the potato bug, June bug, tumblebug, and ladybug are not bugs, as their names suggest, but beetles.
Stinkbugs feed on plants and other insects.True bugs usually have a more or less flattened form. They have tubular mouthparts adapted to piercing and sucking. A bug may be winged or wingless. The bedbug, for example, has no wings. Most bugs undergo an incomplete metamorphosis; they do not pass through a pupal, or nonfeeding, stage. The eggs hatch into young that develop gradually into adults. The young (or nymphs) are generally similar to the adults except in size.
In winged species the four wings overlap to form an X on the back. The forewings are thick at the base and membranous at the tip. The hind wings usually are membranous. The antennae (feelers) in most species are fairly long.
Most bugs feed upon plant juices, but a few are parasitic upon animals. Many species of bugs cause great damage to plants and crops, while others are beneficial in that they prey upon injurious insects.
Where in the World Do True Bugs Live?True bugs live all over the world. They are found everywhere, from hot jungles to cold polar regions. True bugs live in fields, gardens, orchards, woods, ponds, and streams.
Stink bugs make up a common family of true bugs. Like other true bugs, they make their homes in all climates around the world. Most species of stink bugs live in warm, tropical areas. But stink bugs live in colder places, too. Some species of stink bugs, for example, live in the cold northern regions of North America.
In spring and summer, you can find stink bugs on trees, bushes, grasses, weeds, flowers, and fruits.
Bugs Everywhere
What Do Boxelder Bugs Feed On?Boxelder bugs live in boxelder trees in the eastern and midwestern United States. The bugs suck the leaves, flowers, and seeds of the trees they are named after. They also suck on maple and ash trees. However, boxelder bugs do little damage to any trees.
You can recognize a boxelder bug by its red and black colors. This bug is about 1/2 inch (13 millimeters) long. In the summer, large numbers of boxelder bugs cover the trunks of boxelder trees.
Most boxelder bugs don’t stay on trees all year long. In the fall, they look for warm places to spend the winter. They may settle on the sunny sides of fences, rocks, and buildings. In the spring, the bugs leave their winter homes and return to the trees to feed.
How Sneaky Are Ambush Bugs?Ambush bugs are very sneaky. Many kinds of these true bugs hide in flowers and wait for spiders or insects to come along. Ambush bugs use their strong front legs to grab their surprised prey. Then they quickly sink their sharp beaks into their victims and suck the fluids.
Ambush bugs are 3/8 to 1/2 inch (10 to 13 millimeters) long. Some kinds have yellow bodies that help them hide on flowers of the same color. Flies or other prey that visit flowers don’t notice the ambush bugs until it is too late.
Ambush bugs have powerful legs that are hooked at the ends. These bugs use their legs to catch and hold onto their victims. The victims may be bigger than the ambush bugs are themselves. In fact, ambush bugs often prey on insects as big as bumblebees and wasps.
How Do Assassin Bugs Kill?Assassin bugs use their sharp beaks to stab their prey. Like many other predatory true bugs, assassin bugs shoot poison into the bodies of their victims. The poison causes the prey to become paralyzed (PAIR uh lyzd), or unable to move. The poison also makes the prey’s insides soft and soggy. The assassin bugs can then suck up all the juices of their prey. All that’s left of the victims are empty shells.
Assassin bugs grow as long as 1 3/5 inches (4 centimeters). Many kinds have thin bodies that look weak but are really strong. Assassin bugs can kill most insects they go after. The front legs of assassin bugs have special sticky hairs. These hairs help the bugs hold onto their victims while stabbing the victims with their beaks.
Like ambush bugs, assassin bugs wait in or near flowers for their victims. The bugs often hide out in goldenrods, asters, and other members of the daisy family.
Do Toad Bugs Hop?Yes, toad bugs do hop—just as toads do. Toad bugs live along the muddy banks of ponds, lakes, and streams. There, they feed on tiny water insects. Toad bugs often capture their prey by hopping up in the air and landing on them.
Toad bugs don’t just act like toads. These bugs look like toads, too. Toad bugs have short, wide bodies that are usually brown. Their bodies often appear to be covered in “warts.” And they have large heads with eyes that are set wide apart—much as toads do. So how can you tell toad bugs apart from toads? Toad bugs have six legs while toads have just four.
Which True Bugs Are Really Flat?Flat bugs are about as flat as thin pieces of bark. And bark is just what these true bugs look like. Flat bugs spend much of their time on the sides of trees. Most flat bugs are dark brown. Their brown coloring helps them blend in with the bark around them.
Flat bugs are flat enough to crawl into tiny cracks of old, rotting trees. They also crawl under tree bark. Flat bugs hide in the small spaces and suck on fungus growing there. Because they like fungus so much, flat bugs are sometimes called fungus bugs.
Which True Bugs Look Like Lace?Lace bugs look like small pieces of white or gray lace. Many kinds of lace bugs live on trees, such as sycamore, ash, hickory, mulberry, and oak.
Lace bugs gather in groups and feed on the bottoms of tree leaves. A gathering of lace bugs can make a leaf look as if it has white spots. At first, the white spots are the bodies of the lace bugs. But then, as the bugs suck out the sap, other white spots appear, too. Sucking lace bugs can do real damage to a tree.
A lace bug is tiny—only 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) long. The female lays her eggs in slits made on the tree leaves. She then covers her eggs with a thin, sticky liquid that hardens into tiny cones. The cones protect the eggs until they hatch. The female may lay 100 or more eggs on a single leaf.
Are True Bugs in Danger?Most true bugs are quite tiny, so they are always in danger of being eaten by birds, spiders, and other insects. Humans are also an enemy of many true bugs.
Farmers may use chemicals to kill true bugs that harm their crops. Gardeners may do the same. Some people also release insects that are harmful to true bugs and their relatives. Ladybugs, which eat aphids, are sometimes released to protect crops that aphids feed on.
Some true bugs that live in tropical places may become extinct. As tropical rain forests are cut down, species living in them lose their homes. Scientists believe that many unknown species of true bugs and other insects live in these forests. They may die out before they are even discovered. But most true bugs are so numerous that they are not in danger of disappearing.
True bugs are of the order Hemiptera.