Insect Gallery

Leaf-footed bug feeding on pecan cluster
Image courtesy of Charlie Graham

Leaf-footed Bug adult
Image courtesy of Charlie Graham

Leaf-footed Bug/Stink Bug pecan kernel damage
Image courtesy of Charlie Graham

Insect Details

Name: Leaf-footed bug

Latin Name: Leptoglossus phyllopus

Description: The leaffooted bug adult is narrower than the stink bug, light to dark brown, and about 1/2 inch long. The leaffooted bug has a flattened leaf-like segment in the hind legs.

Insects Life Cycle: The bugs overwinter as adults in leaf litter or other shelter near the orchard. In the spring, they lay eggs in clusters underneath leaves of weeds, cover crops or low growing plants. There may be as many as four generations per year. Pecans normally are attacked only by mature bugs which fly to the trees from other plants.

Insects Symptons: Leaffooted bug and similar bugs sometimes cause black pit and kernel spot of pecan nuts. Black pit is indicated by a darkening of the insides of the immature nuts which is followed by premature drop. Pecan weevils and shuckworms cause similar conditions. Kernel spot consists of brown spots from 1/16 to 3/16 inch in diameter that forms a pithy porous area. The injury cannot be detected until the nuts are shelled. Nuts will drop if bugs attack them before shell hardening; after shell hardening, spots will form on the kernels. The bugs can feed through hardened shells. The severity of black pit or kernel spot depends upon the abundance of plant bugs on the native plants and cover crops that are present.