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Oxycarenus arctatus
The coon bug is a seed and fruit feeder, which occasionally swarms on cultivated plants including cotton, stone fruits and some vegetables. They prefer malvaceous plants such as marshmallow weed, but can reach pest status on crops, especially in dry seasons when other food is scarce. Feeding causes young fruit to shrivel and leaves discoloured patches on ripening fruit. These small bugs are most abundant in warm weather and are often found swarming around fowl yards, on fences and around the walls of houses. Adults are about 3 mm long with a black and white body. Nymphs are black with a conspicuous blood-red abdomen.
