This order (Hemiptera) of insects have piercing, sucking mouth parts and can not chew. True bugs use their proboscis (tube-like mouths) to pierce plant parts and inject their saliva to partially digest plant tissues they then suck up for food. There are approximately 80,000 species of true bugs including some of the most common tree pest:
aphids- scales
- leaf and plant hoppers
- cicadas
- shield bugs
They harm trees in two different ways
- by sucking a plant of its water and food supply, and producing unstable areas in plant tissue
- introducing diseases