Leaf-footed bugs are appearing in gardens across the South, and they’re especially drawn to tomatoes, according to Texas A&M AgriLife.

Some types of scale are soft ... Adults have a waxy cottony-looking coating, while immature bugs are smaller but similar. They’re often on the lower surfaces of leaves or where leaves attach to the ...

Like others of their kind, they’re equipped with mouthparts ... may dissuade would-be predators. This perturbed bug perched on a red leaf after flying away from photographer Javier Aznar ...