Jadera haematoloma

Jadera haematoloma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Family:	Rhopalidae
Genus:	Jadera
Species:	J. haematoloma
Binomial name
Jadera haematoloma (Herrich-Schäffer, 1847)

Jadera haematoloma, the red-shouldered bug, goldenrain-tree bug or soapberry bug is a species of true bug that lives throughout the United States and south to northern South America. It feeds on seeds within the soapberry plant family, Sapindaceae, and is known to rapidly adapt to feeding on particular hosts. People often confuse this species with the boxelder bug.

J. haematoloma are typically 9.5–13.5 millimetres (0.37–0.53 in) long and 3–4 millimetres (0.12–0.16 in) wide, though the short-winged form (brachyptera) usually is 7–8 millimetres (0.28–0.31 in) long. Color is mostly blackish (sometimes dark gray or purplish) except for red eyes, "shoulders" (lateral margins of pronotum), and costal margins and dorsal part of abdomen. Nymphs are mostly red with a black pronotum and wingpads. All appendages are blackish.

For most of the twentieth century, little was known about the range of J. haematoloma. Reports showed breeding populations to be present in Florida, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, California, Alabama, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa, as well as Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. A study published in 1987, showed the distribution of J. haematoloma "revealed the close correspondence of records for the bug with the ranges of the soapberry plants that serve as the insects native hosts." In addition, isolated examples have been reported as far north as Minnesota. Outside of the United States, J. haematoloma is found south through Central America and the West Indies to Colombia and Venezuela.

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Wikipedia