These two hemipterans were playing touchy-feely near Portland. One is obviously a western boxelder bug, but the other one is leaving me somewhat perplexed. Although the photograph doesn't do it justice, the bug was essentially black and gold, almost as if highlighted with goldleaf. I initially suspected it was a variant of the brown marmorated stink bug; I've seen ones with brownish, or reddish, or greenish hues, but never one that that seemed to sparkle in the sun. It also lacked the antennal banding commonly seen in the BMSB, although there does seem to be some variation in the widths of the light and dark bands on the brown marmorated stink bug. With a little imagination (well, with a lot of imagination, actually) hints of white at the antennal joints might be made out, but not enough to be considered banding. After reviewing Oregon Department of Agriculture's "Stink Bugs of Oregon," I didn't see any other likely suspects with black antennae.

In any case, after a little less than a minute of interspecies investigation, the two bugs went their separate ways.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!