|
Family Coreidae - Leaffooted Bugs
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)
Family Coreidae (Leaffooted Bugs)
Other Common Names Squash Bugs, Coreids Explanation of Names Author of family is Leach, 1815. From name of genus Coreus, that New Latin (Fabricius, 1803) from Greek, κορισ, a bedbug (1). Numbers Arnett lists 33 genera and 88 species for North America (2).
Slater lists 33 genera from the United States (3). Size Length 7-40 mm (worldwide), typically 10-20 mm, some North American species to 30 mm. Identification Medium to large, often dark-colored hemiptera (heteroptera). Similar to Lygaeidae but with many parallel veins in membrane of front wings. Alydidae have similar venation on wings, but head nearly as wide and long as pronotum--head of Coreidae is narrower than pronotum.
beak, 4-segmented
front wing with many veins, visible when folded against abdomen
Abdominal margin in many species raised--the folded wings lying in the depression formed by the margin (2).
Scent glands present on the thorax between middle and hind coxae.
Head narrower than and often shorter than the pronotum.
Hind tibiae of some species expanded and resembling leaves, e.g., Acanthocephala, Leptoglossus species. In some, e.g., Chariesterus, antennal segments are similarly expanded.
Some images showing anatomic details of the family in Leptoglossus oppositus:
Typical body forms:
Range Widely distributed but most diverse in the South and Southwest. Food Most suck the juices of plants, but a few are reported to be predaceous. Life Cycle Eggs are typically cemented beneath foliage of host. One or more generations per year. Adults sometimes overwinter. Remarks Coreids often give off an unpleasant odor when handled. This is due to the secretion of defensive compounds from the thoracic glands. The active compounds of the secretions are mostly "straight-chain aldehydes and ketones--carbonyl compounds--of which trans-2-hexenal is perhaps one of the most common" (4). The defensive secretions are quite similar to those of the stink bugs, Pentatomidae (4).
A few species of Coreidae are agricultural pests. See Also Broad-headed Bugs, Alydidae
Print References The Century Dictionary--entries for Coreus, Coreidae (1)
Eisner, pp. 92, 234-244, includes high-resolution images of glands and associated structures (4)
Castner, p. 88, figs. 309-311 (5)
Bland and Jacques, pp. 152-153, fig. 128A (scent glands), fig. 140 (6)
Borror and White (1st ed.) pp. 122-123--good comparison with Alydidae (8)
Peterson's First Guide to Insects (9) |
|
|
|
