Bagrada Bug: A Pest for Arizona Gardeners

The bagrada bug Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (aka painted bug) was first found in California in June of 2008 and was officially identifi ed in Yuma Arizona in September of 2009 (Palumbo and Natwick 2010). Since then it has been confirmed in many other parts of Arizona including La Paz, Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties. This is a new pest insect that is native to Africa, India and Pakistan among others (Palumbo and Natwick 2010). The bagrada bug is in the order Hemiptera and family Pentatomidae. Similar to others in this order, the bagrada bug has piercing-sucking mouthparts which are used to ingest plant juices, similar to a straw. These insects are sometimes mistaken for harlequin bugs Murgantia histrionica. While these two insects are in the same family, they are two different genera and species. The bagrada bug is smaller than the harlequin and has a different color pattern (Halbert and Egar 2011).