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‘Red bug’ makes first American appearance — in O.C.
August 3rd, 2009, 4:29 pm · 30 Comments · posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor
A Mediterranean insect never before seen in the Americas is suddenly thriving in Orange County, with groups of the clustering, red and black bugs found from Crystal Cove State Park to the Irvine Ranch, scientists said Monday. 
Although the insect, called the red bug, is not harmful to humans and does not appear to be feeding on native plants, biologists are keeping a close watch for potential ecological effects.
So far, the bug has only been seen feeding on the seeds of a non-native plant called cheeseweed, said Jutta Burger, senior field ecologist at the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. But she said the bug is known to feed on a wide variety of plants in its home ranges.
“What we don’t know about is whether it will switch hosts,” she said. “If it does move onto another host plant species, one that perhaps is native, we would become concerned.”
The first to find the insect was middle-school science teacher Doug Peltz, who saw a group of the creatures in Fremont Canyon June 13 during a hike with other naturalists. Peltz, who teaches at LePort schools in Mission Viejo, also volunteers at the Irvine Ranch.
“What struck me when I saw it was that they were mating,” Peltz said — an unusual end-to-end configuration. “I just found it odd. Other bugs I’ve seen mate don’t mate in that position.”
But Peltz wasn’t the first to report the bug’s presence. That honor goes to state park ranger Trudy Ferris, who found the bug July 2 at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach.
Since then it’s turned up in at least seven locations, six of them in Orange County and several on the Irvine Ranch. The seventh spot was near Claremont.
UC Irvine genetic researcher Peter Bryant, whose close-up, detailed insect photos can be seen online, is gathering information about the finds.
The insect, with the scientific name Lodosiana (=Scantius) aegyptius, is found in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Europe, he said; its appearance is similar to that of the milkweed bug, which is native to the area.
Both are true bugs, known by their piercing, sucking mouth parts.
Red bug nymph
The red bug’s striking red and black pattern, however, makes it stand out.
“It’s a very attractive insect,” Bryant said. “Forget about the fact that it’s out of place.”
No one knows how the insects got here; accidental transport in luggage or shipping containers is among the likely possibilities.
Both Bryant and Irvine Ranch scientists hope for the public’s help in finding more groups of red bugs. It’s best to have photos or specimens; if you believe you’ve found some on the Irvine Ranch, contact Burger at jburger@irconservancy.org.
(All photos courtesy Peter Bryant.)
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These look an awful lot like “milkweed” bugs
http://bugguide.net/node/view/460
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/352688/6451/Milkweed-bug
or the so-called “box elder” bug
http://pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/box_elder_bugs.htm
http://www.insectidentification.org/true-bugs.asp
I believe that both of these bugs also mate rear-to-rear.
Wait don’t tell me….OCR; 6 MONS from now…ANOTHER, endangered species worth protecting at the cost of millions in taxpayers “REVENUE” and the lives of Californians….This bugs me….and it doesn’t take the TIMES to figure this one out…!!!
Not very clever one indeed. These are an exotic, invasive species; exactly the opposite of what the Endangered Species Act protects.
Who knew they were rare? I’ve seen about a half dozen here in Lake Forest!
Can you provide a more exact location and date, and say whether they were associated with Malva parviflora (Cheeseweed)?
I’m close to Lake Forest (in Laguna Hills) and I’ve seen some as well. They’re in the open space near the intersection of Lake Forest Blvd and Santa Vittoria. I’m afraid that I don’t know what cheese weed looks like, but I’d lay good odds that it is near that area as well.
i was on a walk with my girlfriend last week in san juan capistrano, right by ambuehl elementry school, and we saw a bunch of these bugs. She initially saw what she thought were red ants, and i thought they were lady bugs (im color blind and have bad eyes, ok). When i took a closer look, i saw a bunch of these bugs walking around. Never seen anything like them before
Can you send the exact location and date? And were they associated with cheeseweed (Malva parviflora)? THanks!
the location was a few yards from the tutor time building on san juan creek road towards la novia. it was on july 29th. i did not see any cheeseweed by the bugs, and the area is pretty much all dead brush
These are available deep fried at the OC Fair!
these bugs are all over sw riverside county, also for the first time. have never seen them before and could not get anyone to id them.
Can you provide the location and date?
there are literally hundreds of these things on my ranch in menifee. no one could say what they were.
Can you provide the location and date? Thanks
I’ve seen these by the hundreds next to the Santa Ana reservoir’s where I live. I walk the trail almost every day, and had never seen these for the longest time, then one day, they were just really all over! This answers what they are. The first day after I saw them, I tried looking up what they were but didn’t have any luck, Thanks OC Register!!
Can you provide a more exact location and date? Association with Malva?
There are hundreds of them on my front and back yard. I go thru killing them by the hundreds every weekend but they kept on coming back. Help? I dont know why they hang around my front and back yard. I asked my neighbors, they dont seems to have it.
Please provide the location and date!
These red bugs have been running around West Hills, California for months. O.C. is a late bloomer. They are all over my driveway every day.
PLEASE send a picture! As close up as possible.
Can you send the exact location (and date if possible?)
What is the distinguishing characteristic from milkweed bugs? I have lots of tropical milkweed in our butterfly garden and the milkweed bugs look just like these red bugs. But they are different? How closely related are they in the insect family world?
Please visit our web site “Arthropods of Orange County, California” and look up these bugs. They have two round black spots that you don’t see on the milkweed bugs. I tried to give you the URL, but that got blocked by OC Register spam filters!
Peter and Jutta,
I just sent an email (sorry Jutta, I spelled your name wrong) that I saw this bug in my backyard a couple of days ago on one of our corn flowers, but I don’t recall it being this bright red. I’ll send pictures and details if I see it again. I live just down the street, in Turtle Rock.
Recd a call from a gentleman in Lake Elsinsore that has these bugs in his backyard. Please email me for his information.
my boyfriend just found one in our backyard, in Westside Costa Mesa on 8/11/09 at 7pm on a leaf of our butternut squash plant
We live in SW Riverside as well. A few days ago, we noticed about a hundred or so wandering around our entire backyard. Now…We have maybe a thousand of them (not even joking) ALL over our backyard. I thought at first that they were milkweeds or box-elders, but there are no milkweeds or trees…so…It is a new house, so there’s only dirt, plywood, and about 10 tall green weeds- we also removed a bunch of tumbled weeds a few days before we first noticed them. Anyways…There seem to be HUNDREDS coming from the roots of each of these weeds, and a bunch all over in between. The adults are black and red/orange, and the younger ones are soild red.
I would swear I saw these at the Butterfly Park when they had the festival there a couple weeks back (the morning they found the tops of the trees cut off)
I have many of these on our property in Hemet. We moved in about one month ago. We have never encountered anything like it, so we were searching the web and saw your pictures. We have one colony that are living at the base of a young fruitless Mulberry tree. Are they eating it? The tree is in distress and not doing well, but we thought it was due to gophers. We have dry weeds in back and there are colonies there too. Sept. 6, 2009
I have millions of these bugs in my backyard and they are multipling like crazy. I live in riverside. My chickens wont eat them, lizards dont eat them. My entire backyard is full of them. I hope they stop multipling, they are taking over my 5 acres.