Lately I've been seeing here and there in the beans an insect I've not seen before. About 1/2" to 5/8" long. Friend or foe, I have to know! So down the internet rabbit hole I went and found it fairly quickly. It is Riptortus of which there are 26 species. Otherwise called the Bean Sucking Bug. Great. Something new (at least to me) to deal with.

Credit: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/

The narrative says they use long needle-like mouth parts to pierce the pods and suck juices from the beans inside. Pods then turn brown, shrivel and die. There's not much advice on dealing with them except don't plant next to a bed with these bugs in it and burn remains of the crop after harvest. They do mention chemical control and pyrethrum is on the list.

I have some pyrethrum and got out there tonight right before dark and did all of the legumes including the cow peas in case there are any cow pea cucurlios lurking on those. There were Riptortus here and there having an evening stroll on the bean plants. Hopefully it's their last!

That's a new one on me too. There is always something new to deal with while gardening. It keeps us on our toes with no time to get old.

Dang! If your area has them mine likely does too.

One thing I read about these guys is that when they hatch, for awhile they look like ants crawling on the leaves, kind of like the large black ants. Those who study this think it's a way to escape predators until they're old enough to mature and fly. Nature protects its own, I guess.

Interesting @GoDawgs , makes me wonder if they are like some of the stick insects, whose eggs are taken into their nests by ants. They hatch in there and do a mad dash out before the ants twig that they are not what they seem.

@Whwoz, that's interesting! Nature is full of deceptive behavior. Here we have brown headed cowbirds. These slackers make no nests but slip their eggs into the established nest where the occupant's eggs have been laid. They often bump out a few of the nest owner's eggs to make room for their own. Deception everywhere!

Meanwhile, I took my own photo of what I think is the Riptortus bean pod sucker and sent it to the Extension agent for ID.


She sent a reply the next day and confirmed that's what it is. I had asked if an application of Neem after the pyrethrin I already sprayed would be beneficial and she agreed. I want to get rid of these things before fall bean planting time! They are ruining the bean seeds in the pods so seed collection may be greatly reduced if not a total bust.

And as I gathered up pulled vines to haul off I did see a lot of large black "ants" running around in the cart. Yep, the next generation! Confirmation of what I read on the internet.