bug ID, please

20 years ago

I keep finding these little red/orange & black bugs on my tomato plant. They've been congregating in a hole in one tomato made by a bird (I think), so they're easy to dispose of , but I'd like to know what they are and whether I should do more than just pick them off.

Thanks!

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Comments (6)

treelover
Original Author
20 years ago
Well, let me try again to link the photo. Here's the url in case it doesn't work this time, too.

Here is a link that might be useful:
1janetta0
20 years ago
Try http://whatsthatbug.com/index.html
They have been swamped with queries lately and are switching from dialup to dsl so it might take a while to get an answer but it's worth the wait. Great photo. Great bug.
Good luck with the ID
Janet
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hunter_tx
20 years ago
Looks to me like a leaf-footed bug nymph. They have been really pesty in my tomatoes here in North Central Tx this year. Look for a photo on adults, and see if they are something you see in your garden. If you can't find a photo (but I bet you can find many), I can link one of mine. They can be quite pesty, but I use a hand-vac to suck them out of my plants, then dump them in soapy water. There are probably several pesticides that will kill them too, but I don't use pesticides, so I can't recommend one. If it's not a leaf-footed bug, it is one of the true bugs, and could possibly be beneficial. If they are in large numbers, and congregate together in the nymph stage, my bet is my original guess.
Mrs H
treelover
Original Author
20 years ago
Just did a Google image search for leaf-footed nymph and sure enough...that's what it is. I did find one of the adults a few weeks ago and have been catching 3 or 4 of these little things almost every day since then.

The vacuum is a good idea. I used to do that in the house when I'd find a big hairy spider.

Thanks for the ID, Mrs H...and for the link to that bug site, Janet. Looks neat--I'll go back when they have themselves sorted out.
bexar
20 years ago
I had the same question. They don't seem to do much damage but hard to tell. I thought I had 2 differant bugs, but they are nymph and adult.
This link has pretty good info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creatures
treelover
Original Author
20 years ago
bexar:
These are slightly different than the ones I'm finding. The adult that I saw had a wider body, too. I'm learning to appreciate the amazing variety of bugs there are out there...more than I did when I was young!

Like you say, they don't appear to be doing any damage. Your tomatoes look yummy!