Stink Bug

6082  Hi, We found this crawling in our rooftop deck, middle of the day, mid-summer and have never seen one before. It’s about 1.5cm. We have a lot of container plants and something has been chomping on a few, but we can’t find the culprit. Could this be it? Is it a beetle / weevil? Anything to be worried about? Thanks! Carole A., Vancouver, BC.

This is not a beetle, but a stink bug (Hemiptera/Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), likely in the genus Chlorochroa  – see https://tinyurl.com/y8ugbelr for an example. It would not be responsible for any ‘chomping’ damage, as it has piercing-sucking rather than chewing mouthparts. Ed Saugstad, retired entomologist; Sinks Grove, WV.