Today's daily challenge was to make a photograph of an insect. Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to photograph anything today so I am using a photo I took last week while on vacation.
This photo is of a plant that grows gourds. If you look carefully, you can see several stinkbugs in and around the plant. Like all true bugs, stinkbugs have no chewing mouthparts. Instead, they have tubelike beaks called rostrums attached to their heads. The rostrum has four thin, sharp needles in it.
Many stinkbugs sink their needles into plants. They use their needles to suck up the sap or juice that the plants use to transport and store food. Some stinkbugs stick their beaks into other insects and suck their body fluids. When not feeding, stinkbugs hold their beaks underneath their bodies between their front legs.
Like most bugs, a stinkbug has two pairs of wings. The back wings are so thin you can almost see through them. The front wings are thick and tough at the base and very thin at the tips. When a stinkbug rests, the tips of its front wings cross, forming what looks like an “X.”