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Scentless Plant Bug

Immature Scentless Plant Bugs

More Scentless Plant Bugs

Niesthrea louisianica

OK – so the picture quality is near crap… but these guys were little and I guess I was too impatient to get a good one. They were found at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC swarming about a rose of Sharon plant (which is in the Hibiscus plant family) along with lots of little ants as well. This bug actually doesn’t have a common name so it’s better known by its Latin name Niesthrea louisianica but is also casually called the generic scentless plant bug (lackluster!).

I couldn’t find a whole lot on these bugs, but they are pretty common and native from Arizona to Florida to New York. They are pretty common here in NC. They have a few host plants, like the rose of Sharon – but don’t usually cause damage like aphids might. They have also been used and proven to effectively control certain exotic weed populations in the Malvaceaec family – most notably the velvet leaf weed.

The help control plant populations because they feed voraciously on blooms and spent seeds – often without doing any harm to the rest of the plant. They are true bugs and they are really ornamental and fairly harmless. When adults are disturbed they drop to the ground often, feigning death, rather than standing their ground or flying away.