Kudzu bug
The kudzu bug is a small round bug that looks a bit like a tiny shiny bean. It comes from India and China but now lives in the United States too. It loves white walls and white cars and often crawls into houses.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
White surfaces shine brightly into its simple eyes, so it gathers on white houses and white cars.
Its stinky smell also works like a call that tells other kudzu bugs to come and join the group.
Before laying eggs, the mother leaves tiny packets of helpful germs. The babies eat them so they can grow well.
It was first found in the United States in Georgia in 2009, and its family probably came from Japan.
It harms soybean crops, but it also slows down kudzu, another plant that spreads too much.
Most asked questions about Kudzu bug
?Is the kudzu bug harmful?
It cannot bite, but its smelly juice can sting your skin, so do not squash it with bare hands.
?Why do kudzu bugs like white houses?
White walls reflect a lot of light, and that attracts the bugs.
?What does a kudzu bug eat?
Juice from bean plants, soybeans and kudzu.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Megacopta cribraria
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1798
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Plataspidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Plataspidae
- Lives on
- Asia, North America
- Also known as
- Bean plataspid, Globular stink bug, Lablab bug
Where the facts come from
- Megacopta cribraria (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Flickr user CharlesLam . Photo uploaded to commons by user ltshears. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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