A third reason people might think this is a disease is that dead plant tissue may drop out, leaving a shot hole. Many leaf spot diseases have this symptom. As the common name suggests, adults of this true bug have four black longitudinal stripes surrounded by yellow to yellow-green on the leathery part of the wing covers. Beyond this, the membranous part of the wings is black. The head and body are a golden yellow with yellow-green legs that have black markings.
Antennae are black.
Adults are one-quarter inch in length. Nymphs are smaller, wingless, brightly-colored yellow to red, with black spots in rows on the segments of the abdomen. Mouthparts are piercing-sucking. This insect overwinters as eggs laid in linear slits near branch tips of woody plants. Eggs hatch in late spring after most foliage has emerged.