I don't know which of the 'true bugs' (order Hemiptera) this is, but I would sure advise your friend to contact the nursery about it. It should be their responsibility to identify this critter (good or bad). I'd hold them over the fire (the nursery, lol) until they came up with an ID.

Just me again....by any chance does this nursery specialize in cacti?

Rhizo, I think you are on to something. The bug was tentively ID'd on the Texas Forum as a type of cactus beatle.

It's a type of truebug (not a beetle), a Coreid cactus bug. Your friend really and truly needs to report this to the nursery.

If it happened to me, I would take it much further than that, actually.