Leptoglossus zonatus is a species of leaf-footed bug

Coreidae

Coreidae are a large family of predominantly herbivorous insects that belong in the hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. There are more than 1,800 species in over 250 genera. They vary in size from 7 to 45 mm, making the larger species some of the biggest heteropterans. The body shape of coreids...

, a type of true bug

Hemiptera

Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...

. It is found throughout much of South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. The bug is two centimeters in length, gray in color, with a zigzagging whitish band across its back and two distinctive yellowish spots on its anterior pronotum

Prothorax

The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites are the pronotum , the prosternum , and the propleuron on each side. The prothorax never bears wings in extant insects, though some fossil groups possessed...

, the identifying characteristic for the species.

This leaf-footed bug is one of the two major pests of physic nut

Jatropha curcas

Jatropha curcas is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is native to the American tropics, most likely Mexico and Central America. It is cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, becoming naturalized in some areas...

 plants in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

. In Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

, where the bug is known commonly as chinche patona (large-legged bug), it is a minor garden pest. It is a pest of many crops in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and it may transmit the plant pathogen Herpetomonas macgheei, a trypanosomatid protozoa

Protozoa

Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...

n. It breeds in pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...

 and desert willow

Chilopsis

Chilopsis is a genus of flowering plant, containing a single species, Chilopsis linearis. It is a small tree native to the southwestern United States and Mexico...

 trees, and the gregarious bright orange nymph

Nymph (biology)

In biology, a nymph is the immature form of some invertebrates, particularly insects, which undergoes gradual metamorphosis before reaching its adult stage. Unlike a typical larva, a nymph's overall form already resembles that of the adult. In addition, while a nymph moults it never enters a...

s aggregate there. It is a serious pest of satsuma oranges

Mikan

The satsuma is a seedless and easy-peeling citrus mutant of Japanese origin introduced to the West.In Japan, it is known as mikan or formally unshu mikan . In China, it is known as Wenzhou migan . The Japanese name is a result of the local reading of the same characters used in the Chinese...

 in Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, causing damage by feeding and by transmitting the pathogenic yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

 Nematospora coryli

Nematospora coryli

Nematospora coryli is a plant pathogen that causes stigmatomycosis. It is cultivated on potato dextrose agar and grows as yeast-like oval or spherical budding cells either isolated or in short chains and has few hyphae which are septate at maturity...

.

Biological pest control

Biological pest control

Biological control of pests in agriculture is a method of controlling pests that relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms...

 agents found to be effective against this insect include the entomopathogenic fungus

Entomopathogenic fungus

An entomopathogenic fungus is a fungus that can act as a parasite of insects and kills or seriously disables them.-Typical life cycle:These fungi usually attach to the external body surface of insects in the form of microscopic spores...

 Beauveria bassiana

Beauveria bassiana

Beauveria bassiana is a fungus that grows naturally in soils throughout the world and acts as a parasite on various arthropod species, causing white muscardine disease; it thus belongs to the entomopathogenic fungi. It is being used as a biological insecticide to control a number of pests such as...

.