Scientific name: Arthropoda: Insecta: Hemiptera: Rhopalidae: Boisea trivittatus
Common Name: Boxelder Bug
Country: USA
State/District: MD
County: Montgomery
Date: 19 March 2001
Photographer: J. E. Barrows
Identifier: E. M. Barrows
Collector:
Location:
Keywords: A gray insect orange insect red insect
Additional Information:
Another name for the Boxelder Bug is Leptocoris trivittatus.
Rhopalidae is also known as Corizidae.
Boxelder Bugs are common in the Washington, D.C., Area, where they feed on trees (but might increase their growth through their “trimming”) and are part of natural food webs.
They are harmless to people and often congregate in yards, especially near Boxelder Trees (= Ash-leaved Maples).
These Bugs sometimes enter homes and other buildings where they try to overwinter (when not disturbed by Homo sapiens sapiens).
You don’t need to kill them with a pesticide in your home.
You can simply sweep them up and put them back outdoors, hopefully in a sheltered place (for example, a pile of fallen leaves), for the cold season.
Boxelder Bugs superficially look like black-and-orange Common Milkweed Bugs (Oncopeltis fasciatus).
I thank Dr. Ed Cohen for his helpful feedback on this page.
E. M. B.
(November 2003)
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