Sweet Potato Bug

Description:

Physomerus grossipes Fabricius, 1794. Wikipedia explains;"The sweetpotato bug oviposits its eggs on the undersides of leaves or on the stems of the plants on which it feeds, as well as on neighboring sedges. A 1990 study found a mean clutch size of 83 eggs, although some egg deposits numbering twice that have been found, possibly representing the collected eggs of several insects. The female of P. grossipes is very protective, providing the "best known example" of "maternal care in the large family Coreidae." Mothers guard their eggs, threatening and occasionally even rushing at the predators that approach them. In addition, P. grossipes generates a strong-smelling fluid from a metathoracic gland with which the mother sprays larger predators through the anal orifice."

Habitat:

The mother and her eggs were spotted on the leaf of a Rambutan (Nephelium lappacium) in our garden.