Plant Bugs

The term “Plant Bugs” applies to a group of closely related cotton pests that include the tarnished plant bug [Lygus lineolaris (Pialisot de Benuvois)], the western tarnished plant bug (L. hesperus Knight), the cotton fleahopper [Pseudatomoscelis seriatus (Reuter)], the clouded plant bug ] Neurocolpus leucopterus (Say)], and the verde plant bug (Creontiades signatus) This group of pests have piercing, sucking mouth parts and preferentially feed on squares and young bolls.

The reduced insecticide environment created by completion of Boll Weevil Eradication and the introduction of transgenic cottons has led to an increase in the importance of the bug complex as pests of cotton in the Mid-South and Southeast. In the Southeast stink bugs tend to present the greatest threat while the tarnished plant bug fills that role in the Mid-South. The western plant bug is the primary bug pest in Arizona and California and the cotton fleahopper is particularly troublesome in Texas.