A genus of true bugs (hemipterans) that includes the squash bug, known for damaging agricultural crops like squashes and melons.
From New Latin, possibly derived from a Native American language term. The genus was formally named in entomological taxonomy in the 19th century.
The squash bug (Anasa tristis) is a perfect example of how settlers unknowingly brought ecological chaos to the Americas—these bugs explosively multiplied when European colonists planted massive monoculture farms of squash without the native predators to control them.
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