Pear plant bug (Green apple bug)

Insect

Pear plant bug (Green apple bug)

Lygocoris communis (Knight)

Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae

Distribution: Most fruit-growing states and provinces in eastern North America.


The adult pear plant bug is brownish yellow with two dark bands on the thorax (A) and the extremities of its anterior wings are yellowish in color.

  • Crops Affected: apples, pears

    Damage

    Attacks apple and pear. Nymph stings the fruit causing the same damage as the apple red bug except that the brownish rough scars are raised (B).

    Management

    Application of broad-spectrum insecticides, if necessary, soon after petal fall (seldom required).

    Similar Species

    The tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris) can be distinguished by its coloration, particularly its cream-colored scutellum. Contrast also with apple brown bug (Atractotomus mali); Apple red bug (Lygidea mendax Reuter) and Hawthorn dark bug (Heterocordylus malinus Reuter).

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