True Bugs
There is a grouping of insects often referred to as True Bugs. These are insects that range from a millimetre in size to over six inches. These insects are connected through the shared anatomy of piercing-sucking mouth parts and can include a range of insects from bed bugs, aphids and cicadas all of whom draw their nutrition from piercing another life form and sucking out its internal fluid. This is easiest to understand concerning bed bugs as they drink mammalian blood. They pierce the skin and drain the blood from a vein. This is similar to how an aphid will pierce the cuticle of the plant, and its skin, and suck out its necessary fluids. This process often kills the plant while bed bugs do the same, they rarely manage to take enough to kill the host.
Box elder bugs
Box elder bugs will do this with plants just like aphids and cicadas. They are prone to attacking trees and can do so in such large numbers that they can kill a tree in a short time. This makes them the enemy of arborists who try to get rid of them as best as possible. The same for cicadas and other insects that harvest the fluids of plants used in human crops. This is the origin of pesticides as humans would try to protect plants both for food and for beauty. Aphids for instance are the reason you will see trees with tiny holes in the leaves. Box elder bugs often live on residential properties as the trees in the forests have predators that will eat them but on human properties, those predators are less common.
Box elder bug life cycle
Like all true bugs box elder bugs have a three-stage process to achieve adulthood. This involves two transformations. One from an egg to a nymph and one from a nymph to an adult. The first stage is the egg. The bugs will lay their eggs in the spring often on the leaves of trees which is why you will see bumps on tree leaves early in the season. They are coloured to blend in with the species of tree they are most likely to drain as they mature. The eggs will hatch and the nymphs emerge two or so weeks later. The nymphs look like adults, smaller and without wings. They will then go through a series of moultings where they grow larger and gain wings.
Box elder bug dangers
Box elder bugs have two mating seasons, one in the early spring and then again in the summer. The insects that will attack your home are from the second season, and the ones that will destroy your trees are from the first. Either way, they are an annoyance and must be stopped from their destructive paths. The best way to do that is preventative measures.
Box elder bug treatment
Treating your home with an exterior insect spray of pesticides in the early spring can help stop the attack of box elder bugs in the fall. This process is common and many companies offer it at a discount during the spring season. Getting this type ion treatment can be very effective.