Insecta

These moths’ wings have scalloped margins. The forewings are brown with lighter markings, and the hindwings are yellow with dark edges. In flight they can be confused with bumble bees, since they emit a buzzing sound as they forage among flowers.

The females are nocturnal, while the males are crepuscular (active at sunset).

When at rest, they perch on the bark of a tree and curve their abdomens upward between the wings. Their wingspan ranges from 5.1 to 7 cm.

The young caterpillars are green, with a horn-shaped growth at the tip of the abdomen. Later, after one moult, they turn whitish or bluish-green. The “horn” disappears and is replaced by a rounded orange knob. In the last instar, the caterpillar reaches 7.5 cm and has two forms: either brown, or with 10 pale green spots on a brown background. In both cases, there is a growth resembling a large eye at the tip of the abdomen.

This red and black bug has a distinctive red X-shaped marking on its wings and a red band on the first thoracic segment behind its head. Its slender body is 10 to 12 mm long.

The nymph has a red or orange-red abdomen, with black spots appearing on it as the insect grows. The wing pads are black and become more pronounced with each moult.

Pentatomids owe their name to the fact that their antennae are divided into five segments (from the Greek penta, or five). This characteristic is less obvious than their shield-shaped bodies, which has also earned them the name “shield bugs.” There is a triangle (scutellum) where the wings join. Their heads are generally small.

The shape of the mouthparts of these piercing and sucking insects depends on their diet. In herbivores, the first segment of the rostrum is slender and located under the head. In predatory stink bugs, this segment is larger and projects in front of the head.

Most of these insects give off a very foul odour when they are disturbed. They produce these repellent secretions from glands on the abdomen, near the rear legs.

In southern Quebec, leaf-footed bugs are usually small, stocky, dull-coloured bugs. The membrane of their forewings is marked with parallel veins.

In tropical species, the tibiae on the hind legs are sometimes very broad and leaf-shaped, hence their common name of leaf-footed bugs.

When disturbed, some of these insects release a foul-odoured substance similar to that emitted by stink bugs, produced by glands on the thorax.

The adults are 10 to 20 mm long.

These large, oval beetles are 1.7 to 3 cm long. Their colour varies from yellowish orange to reddish brown. Their short antennae end in clubs made of plates called lamellae, which unfurl into a fan.

Their elytra (wing covers) have three black dots on the side and a fine black line on the dorsal portion. Southern specimens have light brown legs, while northern ones have darker legs.

The fleshy grubs are whitish and C-shaped, and may be up to 5 cm long.