I found this handsome, roughly 1″ long, bug in my carport yesterday evening. Its size and unique appearance caught my eye and warranted a few photos.

Good thing it tolerated a mini photoshoot because I needed all the images during my research into the species. Placing it in the leaf-footed bug family was fairly simple. After all, those fancy legs are pretty obvious.

Since most of the species in that family reside in Mexico and Central America, I was left with just two possibilities; the Florida Leaf-footed Bug (Acanthocephala femorata) or the Flag-footed Bug (Anisoscelis affinis).

The former certainly sounded the most promising since I live in Florida (and the latter’s only US records are from Texas). I searched online images and both species had life stages that somewhat resembled my insect. Though, to complicate matters, all leaf-footed bugs can change color, to match the fruit they are consuming in order to avoid predation. So color was not a helpful identifier.

This is where my photos came in handy. In all its life stages, the Florida Leaf-footed Bug has a pointed tylus on its head (the genus name Acanthocephala translates as spiny head). The Flag-footed Bug does not have this protuberance. So, even though it sounds unlikely, I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.

I wonder how in the world it got here. I did have a couple packages delivered recently, perhaps it was a stowaway?

Now that it’s here, it’ll probably survive just fine. Specimens have been found hiding in Yellow Buttercups (Turner ulmifolia) and feeding on passionvines (Passiflora sp.), both of which I have planted in my yard.