Guide to Leaf-Footed Bugs: How to Identify Leaf-Footed Bugs

Leaf-footed bugs, or squash bugs, are leaf-shaped insects that feed on the juices of many garden plants, including fruit and fruiting vegetables, ornamental plants, and nuts. These members of the Coreidae family, which includes Leptoglossus phyllopus (the Eastern leaf-footed bug), the Florida leaf-footed bug, and the Western conifer bug, are part of the Coreoidea superfamily, and the order Hemiptera, or “true bugs,” along with aphids and stink bugs. The leaf-footed bug population in North America features approximately 80 species, including the Western leaf-footed bug (scientific name: Leptoglossus zonatus).

Adult leaf-footed bugs overwinter in protected locations, like buildings, or weeding areas, like woodpiles. They emerge in the late spring and flock to vegetable gardens as fruits ripen. Leaf-footed insects can be identified by their special sucking mouthparts, through which they drain the juices from host plants.

Leaf-footed bugs feed on the plant juices of tomatoes, pomegranates, watermelons, and many citrus fruits. In addition, leaf-footed bugs eat nuts like pistachios and pecans, which they consume by excreting a digestive enzyme that softens the nut for consumption. When eating, the bugs often introduce a fungal yeast to the host plants; the yeast causes discoloration in fruits and vegetables, which are still safe to consume.

Leaf-footed bugs lay a strand of 10 to 15 cylindrical eggs along the stems of host plants and can lay up to 200 eggs over two months during the spring. The eggs hatch in approximately one week to release leaf-footed bug nymphs, which develop from instars, or immature insects, to adults in a period of five to eight weeks. Adult leaf-footed bugs have long life cycles, and several generations may live together while overwintering.

You can identify leaf-footed bugs by the spiked leaf-like extensions on the tibia of their hind legs. They are typically medium to large (inch-long) brown bugs with long antennae and small wings. Leaf-footed bug nymphs have dark heads on bodies that can be orange or ruddy; adult leaf-footed bugs display a light-colored stripe across the center of their carapace or protective covering.

They are often mistaken for the nymphs of the assassin bug, a true bug that is a beneficial insect.

There are several ways to get rid of leaf-footed bugs in your garden, including:

• Add row covers. Using a row cover—a lightweight, permeable cover for garden plants—will keep leaf-footed bugs out of your garden. However, it’s important to cover your plants before the bugs arrive in the early spring, or you’ll trap them inside with your fruits and vegetables. Row covers may also keep out beneficial insects, including pollinators like bees and butterflies, which are crucial for fertilizing certain plants.
• Try insecticides. Use chemical pesticides as a last resort for leaf-footed bug control since they are only temporarily halted by most commercially available insecticides. In severe infestation, a broad-spectrum, pyrethroid insecticide may be effective, but they are dangerous for beneficial insects. Insecticidal soap or natural repellents like neem’s oil may only be useful against nymphs.
• Use predators to manage them. Leaf-footed bugs have several natural enemies, including assassin bugs, tachinid flies, tiny wasps, birds, and spiders. If you want to keep these and other beneficial bugs in your garden as pest management, ensure pollen and nectar are readily available.
• Remove them by hand. In the early part of the season, monitor your plants daily for adult leaf-footed bugs or nymphs. Hand-picking will remove most adults and nymphs, but wear gloves when doing so because, like stink bugs, leaf-footed bugs produce a foul odor when threatened. If you don’t want to handle the bugs, you can wash them off the plants with soapy water.
• Weed and clean. Leaf-footed bugs overwinter in weedy areas, culls of fruit, or woodpiles before emerging in the spring to lay eggs. Monitor or remove these areas from your garden to reduce overwintering bug populations.

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