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Project Noah Nature School
Acrosternum hilare
Its color is typically bright green, with narrow yellow, orange, or reddish edges. It is a large, shield-shaped bug with an elongate, oval form and a length between 13–18 mm. It can be differentiated from the species Nezara viridula by its black outermost three antennal segments. Its anterolateral (= in front and away from the middle) pronotal margin is rather straight and not strongly arced such as in Acrosternum pennsylvanicum. Both adults and nymphs have large stink glands on the underside of the thorax extending more than half-way to the edge of the metapleuron. They discharge large amounts of this foul-smelling liquid when disturbed.
It is found in orchards, gardens, woodlands and crop fields, feeding with their needle-like mouthparts on the juices of a wide variety of plants from May until the arrival of frost. Adults develop a preference for developing seeds and thus become crop pests (tomato, bean, pea, cotton, corn, soybean, eggplant). When no seeds are present, they also feed on stems and foliage, thus damaging several fruit trees, such as the apple, cherry, orange and peach trees.
Spotted on Jul 18, 2004
Submitted on Oct 14, 2011
1 Comment
Ewwwwwwww!