THE SQUASH-BUG AND ITS ALLIES 



(Family Coreidce.) 



This is a large and important family, divided into many sub- 

 families and containing about 1,500 species of which nearly 200 

 inhabit the United States. The group has no popular name 

 although these insects, in common with the members of several 

 allied families are known as "plant bugs." Comstock calls the 

 Coreidse "the squash-bug family " after its best- known represen- 



Fig. 195. — Leptoglossus 

 phyllopus 



Fig. 196. — Metapodius 

 femoratus 



tative, but of course this is not a distinctive name, nor does it 

 seem possible to coin one. The Coreidae are very diverse in 

 shape and structure, some being broad and clumsy and others 

 thin. Some have curiously modified legs like the leaf-footed 

 plant bug ( Leptoglossus phyllopus) and the thick-thighed Meta- 

 podius (Metapodius femoratus) while others have slender normal 

 legs. All of these bugs feed on the juices of plants and some of 



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