The cotton seed bug is a pest of 

cotton and other members of the 

Malvaceae plant family, including 

kenaf, okra, and roselle. This 

insect causes economic damage 

when it feeds on cotton seeds, 

reducing seed germination and 

oil quality. Additional losses 

occur when cotton seed bugs 

are crushed during ginning, as 

they lower its quality and stain 

the lint. 

The cotton seed bug has a 

worldwide distribution, excluding 

most of North America. Present 

in the West Indies since the early 

1990s, the first U.S. detection 

of the pest occurred in Puerto 

Rico in January 2010. In March 

2010, the cotton seed bug was 

found in the Florida Keys, which 

signified the first detection in the 

continental United States. It was 

later detected in April 2010 in the 

U.S. Virgin Islands. 

The U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) is working 

closely with stakeholders to 

survey for the cotton seed bug 

as part of early detection and 

delimiting efforts. 

Description

Adult cotton seed bugs are black 

with translucent white wings. 

Males and females have similar 

coloration, but males are slightly 

smaller than females. Eggs are 

oval, less than 1 millimeter in 

size. This pest goes through five 

nymphal stages, or instars, which 

have pink to red abdomens. 

Pest Alert Plant Protection and Quarantine

February 2012

Cotton Seed Bug (Oxycarenus hyalinipennis) 

Where To Look

Adult cotton seed bugs prefer 

crevices in such resting sites as 

tree trunks, telephone poles, or 

wooden posts; undersides of 

tree leaves; pods of legumes; 

dried flower heads; grass roots; 

and under sheath leaves of corn 

and sugarcane. Adult clusters 

have also been observed on the 

leaves of mango, guava, and 

citrus plants. 

Life Cycle

Cotton seed bugs begin feeding, 

mating, and laying eggs when 

the seeds of their hosts become 

available. The resting adults 

leave their shelters and move to 

young cotton plants, waiting for 

the bolls to ripen and open. The 

bugs cannot pierce unopened 

bolls to feed. Each female lays 

about 20 eggs in the lint of 

opened bolls and, less often, 

Figure 1. Adult cotton seed bug 

Figure 2. Cotton seed bugs in a mature boll

USDA/APHIS, Julieta Brambila

USDA/APHIS, Karolynne Griffiths
on green bolls. The nymphs 

undergo five instars in 2 weeks 

or more. A generation from 

egg to adult can be completed 

in 20 days, and the pest goes 

through three to four generations 

per year. The last generation 

undergoes an inactive, dormant 

phase (aestivation), and no 

feeding or mating occurs until 

host food is available again.

Survey and Detection

USDA encourages growers and 

producers of cotton and other 

host plants to conduct their own 

survey activities for cotton seed 

bugs and report any findings 

to their State Plant Regulatory 

Official or county extension 

office. Establishing sentinel 

survey sites, a fixed site with host 

plants that is visited repeatedly 

to inspect for the presence of a 

target pest, is an effective way to 

detect the presence of the cotton 

seed bug. Areas with large 

populations of easily accessible 

host plants make optimal sentinel 

survey sites. For the cotton 

seed bug, effective sites include 

agricultural fields where okra 

is produced and natural areas 

where wild cotton grows.

To detect populations of the 

cotton seed bug, surveyors 

should conduct visual 

examinations of host plants 

at sentinel site locations on a 

routine basis, particularly when 

the host plants are in seed. In 

cotton, these bugs are most 

visible when the plants have 

freshly matured bolls with dry 

seeds. While the plants are in 

seed, bolls should be removed 

and inspected for the presence 

of seed-feeding insects. USDA 

also recommends sifting through 

leaf litter below the host plants 

for the presence of the pest, 

particularly during non-seedproducing periods. 

For more information about 

what to look for when surveying 

for this pest, consult the Field

Screening Aid for the Cotton 

Seed Bug developed by USDA’s 

Cooperative Agricultural 

Pest Survey program. You 

can download a copy of this 

publication online at http://caps.

ceris.purdue.edu/screening/

oxycarenus_hyalinipennis.

Report Your Findings

Proper identification of the cotton 

seed bug is important. There are 

several closely related species 

of Oxycarenus, some of which 

have similar hosts, that can be 

confused easily with the cotton 

seed bug (O. hyalinipennis). If 

you find an insect that you 

suspect is the cotton seed 

bug, please contact your local 

extension office or State Plant 

Regulatory Official to have the 

specimen identified properly. 

To locate an extension specialist 

near you, go to USDA’s National 

Institute of Food and Agriculture 

Web site at www.nifa.usda.

gov/Extension/. A directory of 

State Plant Regulatory Officials 

is available on the National 

Plant Board Web site at www.

nationalplantboard.org/member/

index.html.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider 

and employer.

United States Department of 

Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service

Program Aid No. 2059

Issued July 2010

Slightly revised February 2012

Figure 4. Adult cotton seed bug in a cotton ball

Figure 3. Adult cotton seed bug on okra 

USDA/APHIS, Julio A. Navarro

USDA/APHIS, Julio A. Navarro