The thorn bug is an occasional pest of ornamentals and fruit trees in southern Florida. During heavy infestations, nymphs and adults form dense clusters around the twigs, branches and even small tree trunks. The trunks were so heavily infested that is was difficult to place a finger anywhere on the trunk without touching a specimen.
Damage is caused by sucking the sap and by oviposition cuts.
He also mentioned that thorn bug honey-dew secretions and accompanying sooty mold development caused a nuisance to home owners. There are reports of barefooted children stepping on the spines of thorn bugs which drop out of trees. The wounds are slow healing and sometimes become infected. Distribution South and Central America, Mexico, and southern Florida. At best, these would seem to be accidental introductions in which no natural populations were maintained.