True Bugs (Suborder Heteroptera) and others

There are some 134 families and 82,000 species of true bugs, found all over the world and in great variety. All have piercing, sucking beaks protruding from the front of the head; most have a triangular structure (the scutellum) on the back between the bases of the wings, and most have two pairs of wings, with the forewing basally thickened and leathery. For images of bugs found in the Sonoran Desert, click here.

Giant Water Bugs (Belostomatidae)

We have found these very large aquatic bugs (the largest true bugs) in Saguaro Juniper lands in the Sierra Blanca Spring, a small, truly perennial, shaded pool of water with abundant vegetation surrounding it. These more than 2-inch long beetles have prominent eyes, strong beaks, and foreleges adapted for holding prey while the sucking beak is thrust into the victim. They eat a variety of small aquatic animals, including (where available) fish.

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Bloodsucking Conenoses (Triatoma spp.)

Because of their importance in our area -- bloodsucking conenoses or kissing bugs , not well known to the general public, but which can in exceptional cases cause very severe reactions in humans to its nocturnal bites -- we are devoting an entire page to these remarkable insects.

Kissing Bugs

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In the sections below, we will present clusters of bugs encountered by season in given years.

April 2005

After the good Spring rains of 2005, we had fairly good bloomings of spring flowers, especially white flowers like Desert Chicory and Pincushions. We found two main types of bugs attracted to these flowers. First, the set of six images grouped below (click on each image to enlarge it):

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Below, nymphs of a second type were found -- in fewer numbers -- on some of the same flowers as the bugs shown just above:

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Below, we saw another type of bug at the same time, perched on a rock:

May 2004

We saw a rich diversity of insects following good Spring rains in 2004, which led to an eruption of Spring annual sprouts and flowers on which insects could feast. Below are some results of one brief stroll near Saguaro-Juniper Hill beside the Pool Wash Ridge Road in the late afternoon of May 09, when the sun was low and the wind had diminished.

We found various bugs feeding on the Engelmann Prickly Pears, as shown in these three images below. Note the different stages shown here: (Click on each image to enlarge it):

We photographed (below) the cactus bug nymphs shown at far right above again in May 2005, again on prickly pears, Chelinidea vittiger (Family Coreidae).

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On the right below, a delicate creature with black eyes and red body works a whitethorn acacia nearby (Click on each image to enlarge it):

 

Below -- from May of 2004 again -- are three images of bugs on the same kind of seedhead (whose size is indicated by the central image, showing part of the light-gloved knuckle of an adult index finger holding it). Left and center show the same beast, which has a kind of hourglass design on its back. Click on each image to enlarge it.

In August of 2004, these two bugs were seen mating, below, on an upper branch of a mesquite tree at the Diversion Tank, now with water in its bottom and lush grasses around its flanks.In the image at left, one can clearly see (though blurred) see the characteristic triangular scutellum on the upper back, and also the enlarged femur of the back leg suggesting these are a species of leaf-footed bug (Family Coreidae), while the image at right gives a clearer view of the red-barred, enlarged femur. Click on each image to enlarge.

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Below, we see (at left) a better view of the flattened, red-barred tibia of one insect, while at right (we having unfortunately broken up the coupling by jockeying to get closer with the camera) you can see the yellow-and-black stripings along the sides of the wings. These features, plus the flat, rounded disk located towards the end of the antenna (a specialized sensory organ) tell us it is a Giant Mesquite Bug (Thassus gigas). Mesquite Bugs feed only on the sap of mesquite trees. They emit an offensive odor when touched.

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September 24, 2004: Below, adult cactus bugs (Chelinidea vittiger) on an Engelmann prickly pear:

Below, more detailed images of each: (Click on each image to enlarge it.) The two examples shown at left and center may be the same type of bug (note the white strip on top of the head), but the one at right is different (and looks like the one shown in a left-hand image from May of this year (see above).

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This one, below, we only discovered while looking at photos of flowers for entry in our Wildflowers page. The image (from August 2004) is at the limits of its resolution, and not very clear, but the legs are remarkable -- a reduviid of some sort? thread-legged bug? (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Another bug nymph in the red-black mode we photographed in May of 2004, crawling on the ground in the Notch Basin. Note the red-hourglass pattern on its black back, perhaps a mimicry of a Black Widow Spider (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Below, in July 2004 this crew of leafhopper nymphs (Cuerna sp.?) were enjoying the pollen fruit of a blossoming Pincushion Mammilaria cactus in Sierra Blanca Canyon Wash.

In with the leafhoppers was what appears to be a beetle, but not sure about it. Any suggestions?