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Photo#180817
Stink Bug - Ascra bifida

Stink Bug - Ascra bifida
Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, USA
May 1, 2008
I am have a hard time differentiating between Edessa and Banasa dimiata. We have the below images on BugGuide already and I find them confusing at best. Can anybody help me understand what I am missing...
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Edessa on left - Banasa dimiata on right

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Edessa on left - Banasa dimiata on right

It is my contention that ALL images above are Edessa although both images on the right side are under Banasa dimiata and that Banasa dimiata actually looks like:


But I could be wrong

Images of this individual: tag all
Stink Bug - Ascra bifida Stink Bug - Ascra bifida Stink Bug - Ascra bifida

Edessa bifida -- D.B. Thomas det.
Moved from Edessa.

Interesting problem.
Let me start by saying I know nothing about these bugs. On the positive side, I have pretty good visual discrimination skills. My guess is that we had one or two misidentified insects on site and that these were used to misidentify even more. (I've seen this happen with flies.)

Ron M., I agree that the images you believe to be Edessa belong in the same group. My reasoning, based on a comment to a post here, is head size - small, in this case. (With a cursory look, I couldn't find any Edessa images online. The B. dimiata images I reviewed all had a larger head, per your example.)

Hope you get an expert opinion on this one, but I have a strong feeling that you're right.

 
I have even less
expertise than what Ron claims, but an Edessa was one of my very first posts last year and I identified it by the very scientific method of looking for the white "heart." In looking at how they have been separated, that still seems to be consistent!

 
Misidentifications
It is a problem sometimes when someone posts straight into the guide without confirming their ID, which seems to be the case here. It seems the images for Banasa need to be double-checked. Your bottom example is definitely Banasa dimidiata.

 
Thanks Brad...
I just noticed that all the above images have been straightened out. Thanks!

 
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