Stink Bugs!

Watch out for that spray!

If you read my last post you'll find that I had no idea what kind of beetle I'd found. Well, today I got a surprise. Along with the type pictured here, they belong to a group called 'stink bugs' and they are actually classified as pests! Apparently, they can do a lot of damage to crops like soy and others and farmers spend a lot of time and effort to eliminate them. The thing that most surprised me though is that when scared, they spray out a smelly liquid. Considering I spent some time handling the bug in the previous post and didn't get sprayed, I guess I'm lucky! Either that or the beetle I picked up was a dud bug ; )

Mystery Beetle

 Don't have a clue what this beetle is. Found several of them in a small area of a bamboo forest I was walking through with Professor Ewan near our home in Japan. We took a lot of photos and spent some time after we came back looking through one of his bug books without any success. It was about the size of a fingernail, green and cream color and didn't fly away despite getting a lot of prodding and handling. We came back the next day for another look but they'd all disappeared so if anybody out there has any idea what it is, please add a comment to this. My thanks in advance. Until then this is the 'mystery beetle'  :)