Feeding damage appears as spotting on the upper leaf surface. The adult is greenish yellow with 4 black lines running down the back and about 3/16 in long. The immature stage is bright red or orange with black spots on the segment behind the head. As they mature, a yellow stripe appears on each side of the wing pads. They feed for about 6 weeks. Plant bugs move rapidly and try to hide out of sight when disturbed. Depending on the plant, the spotting on leaves may be dark or light to dark tan and may coalesce to damage entire leaves. In landscapes, feeding will stop and plants outgrow the damage so treatments are usually unnecessary. The spots are caused by plant bugs feeding on the plant juices and injecting a toxin when feeding. Feeding injury may be mistaken for leaf spot disease, however foliar disease spots from fungi ar irregular and feeding injury from four-lined plant bugs ar uniform in shape and size. Susceptible plants include Shasta daisies, Gentiana, Heuchera, Dahlia, Chrysanthemum, Rudbeckia, Heliopsis, Lavandula, Lupinus, Paeonia, Coreopsis and Geranium.
