Israel Insect World

hi

can you tell me what this bug is (the one in my profile picture), and whether it harmful to plants?

thank you

This belongs to this family:

http://www.nature-of-oz.com/heteroptera.htm

but the image is too out of focus for me to determine for 100%

maybe Assaf here will know...

This is Spilostethus pandurus a highly polyphagous and sometimes even predatory species although usually prefer plants of the order Asparagales. When considering Lygaeidae (sensu stricto, i.e. without Rhyparochromidae, Oxycarenidae...) this is probably one the best candidate to be economically important due to its large size, fast reproduction and wide range of food source. I personally had never seen them is such large numbers that could threat a plant (except with Urginea) so if you don't see large numbers of this bug you are safe. The best way to understand if it cause any damage is to look at the plant leaves and see if you find yellow stains or dead areas.