You may have seen this bug around your yard and, like me, assumed it was a kind of stink bug. Actually, it's not! After an hour and a half of struggling to find this bug's name, I'm now able to identify it as the Scentless Plant Bug
Niesthrea louisianica, sometimes called the Hibiscus Bug because that plant is one of their hosts. Whereas Stink Bugs are members of
Pentatomoidea, Scentless Plant Bugs are members of
Coreoidea. The Hibiscus Bug's family is
Rhopalidae, subfamily
Rhopalinae, tribe
Niesthrini. Although it is abundant, it doesn't damage plants.
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| As I see it, the most obvious difference between scentless plant bugs and stink bugs is that the sclerotized part of the latter's forewings (called hemelytra) is dark, matching the color of the pronotum, whereas the former's wings have almost transparent hemelytra. |
References:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/52865
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4480/
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/aesa/1977/00000070/00000005/art00002
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