horned squash bug

(Anasa armigera)

Conservation Status
IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed

 
horned squash bug
Photo by Alfredo Colon
 
Description

Horned squash bug is a common, medium sized, true bug. It occurs in the United States from Maine to South Carolina, west to Minnesota and Arkansas. It occurs in southern Canada from Nova Scotia to Ontario.

Adults are active from late May to late September. They are found along streams in woodlands and in other locations where their wild host species are found. They feed on the sap of bur cucumber (Sicyos spp.). They also feed on cultivated cucumber (Cucumis sativus), but they are not an important pest of the crop like their close relative squash bug (Anasa tristis).

Adults are ½ to (13 to 17 mm) in length. The body is robust, fairly hard, and elongated oval. When viewed from the side it is flattened above and convex below. It is mostly dark brown (dark) with pale yellow or pale brown (pale) areas.

The head is pale, small, squarish, and much narrower and shorter than the pronotum. There are two large compound eyes and two small simple eyes (ocelli). The mouth parts are optimized for piercing and sucking. They take the form of a long, 4-segmented beak. The beak projects in front of the head and extends along the underside of the body between the legs. It consists of 4 hair-like blades (stylets) with sharp tips enclosed in a 4-segmented sheath. There are two channels in the beak, one spitting out saliva to keep the food flowing, and one for sucking in liquid food. The two lower jaw-like structures (maxillae) and two lower lips do not have feeler-like structures (palps) attached. The antennae are exposed, conspicuous, and long, much longer than the head. They have 4 segments. The first segment is pale with dark spots. The spots are sometimes dense enough to entirely obscure the pale background. The second and third segments are mostly dark, pale at the base and at the tip. The fourth segment is orange or pale yellow. A long, sharp, horn-like spine rises near the base of each antenna. This is the feature that gives the insect its common name and species epithet.

The plate on the first segment of the thorax (pronotum) is narrow in front, much wider behind. It may be entirely pale, or pale on just the front half and dark in the rear. The rear corners (humeral area) are prominently projected outward. The front of the side margins is wavy or concave. When viewed from the side, the pronotum is strongly angled downward beyond the humeral area. The plate between the wing bases (scutellum) is large, sharply triangular, and coarsely pitted (punctate).

The forewings (hemelytra) are longer than the abdomen but do not completely cover the sides of the abdomen. They have a thickened section at the base and a thin membranous section at the tip with a clear dividing line between the two. The thickened basal part is comprised of a narrow area (clavus) behind the scutellum when the wings are closed, and the remaining broad marginal area (corium). The clavus is mostly dark, pale just at the very tip. The corium is dark. The membranous area is bronze or dark brown with numerous black spots.

The abdomen has a flattened, enlarged margin (connexivum). Each segment of the connexivum is mostly dark with a pale band of varying width on the front margin. When the hemelytra are closed, the connexiva are usually broadly exposed. The underside of the abdomen is greenish yellow.

The hindwings are thin, membranous, and concealed under the forewings.

The legs are pale with many conspicuous black spots.

 

Size

Total length: ½ to (13 to 17 mm)

 

Similar Species

 
Habitat

 

Biology

Season

One generation per year: late May to late September

 

Behavior

When handled it squirts a foul-smelling chemical from glands on the side of its body that is an effective deterrent.

 

Life Cycle

 

 

Larva Food

 

 

Adult Food

 

Distribution

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

1/6/2025    
     

Occurrence

Common

Taxonomy

Order

Hemiptera (true bugs, hoppers, aphids, and allies)

Suborder

Heteroptera (true bugs)

Infraorder

Pentatomomorpha

Superfamily

Coreoidea (leaf-footed bugs and allies)

Family

Coreoidea (leaf-footed bugs)

Subfamily

Coreinae

Tribe

Hypselonotini

Genus

Anasa (squash bugs)

   

Subordinate Taxa

 

   

Synonyms

Anasa terminalis

Coreus armigerus

   

Common Names

horned squash bug

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Clavus

On Hemiptera: The hard part of the forewing that is adjacent to the scutellum when the wings are closed. Plural: clavi.

 

Connexivum

In Heteroptera: the enlarged, flattened margins of the abdomen. Plural: connexiva.

 

Corium

The thickened basal portion of the front wing that lies between the clavus and the membrane of insects in the family Hemiptera. Plural: coria.

 

Hemelytron

The forewing of true bugs (Order Hemiptera), thickened at the base and membranous at the tip. Plural: hemelytra.

 

Ocellus

Simple eye; an eye with a single lens. Plural: ocelli.

 

Pronotum

The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Punctate

Dotted with pits (punctures), translucent sunken glands, or colored spots of pigment.

 

Scutellum

The exoskeletal plate covering the rearward (posterior) part of the middle segment of the thorax in some insects. In Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera, the dorsal, often triangular plate behind the pronotum and between the bases of the front wings. In Diptera, the exoskeletal plate between the abdomen and the thorax.

 

 

 

 

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Alfredo Colon

horned squash bug
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Alfredo Colon
6/3/2021

Location: Woodbury, MN

horned squash bug
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Created: 1/6/2025

Last Updated:

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