True Bugs and Leafhoppers True Bugs and Leafhoppers Full-screen, JPEG images, can be viewed by clicking on the small images.
All true bugs have straw-like mouth parts.
Not all true bugs are plant pests, but those that are, like this boxelder bug, feed by piercing the tissues of their hosts and sucking up plant juices. Several species of leaf-footed bugs, pictured here on the left, and most stink bugs, here on the right, are plant feeders. A second character common to all true bugs can be seen on these specimens. The wing covers are hard and leathery, except for the tip which is thin and membranous. Small circles of dead leaf tissue on forsythia, rose, sumac, and a wide range of cultivated flowers indicate the presence of four line plant bugs.