What’s Spermolepis inermis good fer?

Well. The leaves routinely provide nourishment for swallowtail caterpillars. While the fruits are eaten by these here bugs, Trichopepla semivitatta. Yes. Crumby picked out this picture of this particular style of bug because it also shows half of a Spermolepis inermis fruit above the bug. This bug may eat that fruit or one just like it.

Many may wonder why this particular bug appears to be in a container. Well. Crumby put it in there. He put it in the container because these type or style of bugs normally hang upside down on the plant, thus making taking pictures of them almost impossible. But the downside of putting the bug in the container is, the camera flash does not reach into the container. No. Crumby lacks a fancy macro flash that would easily illuminate even the darkest of stygian orifices or holes where the sun don’t shine. So that’s why the picture is a tad soft and noisy, poor lighting.

Never fear though. Crumby has better pictures.

OK. You can not make these bugs go topsides on the plant stems by poking them. If you poke them, they drop off the stem. Once they drop off, you may never find them again unless they dropped off into your container. Plus, your finger where you poked them will stink for a week. (Again, Crumby can not over-emphasize the importance of a good tweezer if you mess with true bugs of the Order Hemiptera). But, if you sort of gently twist the plant stems around 180 degrees, then the bug is on top of the stem and you can take its picture. However, a picture of this bug on top of a stem is a cheat. It’s a lie because this particular bug never sits that way in nature. So you know those type photographs, if you espy them, are fakes, cheats, phony, capitalist-roader type photographs.

Good Goddess! Identifying true bugs in these parts is sure easy thanks to austinbug.com. If you like true bugs, you can learn plenty about true bugs at that site. Er. Also, isn’t there an HBO TV show known as True Bugs? It’s all about hemip suckers!