These are Soapberry Bugs (Jadera haematoloma). They are found across the southern United States, and related species are found in many other parts of the world. They specialize in drinking the juice from developing seeds of plants that are in the Soapberry family (Sapindaceae). In North American, that includes the soapberry tree, the serjania vine, and the balloon vine. It also includes other introduced species from the Soapberry family, including the round-podded golden raintree, the flat-podded golden raintree, the heartseed vine, and other related plants.

To get the juice from seeds, the soapberry bug sticks it's long, sharp mouth through the seed cover. Each different plant has a different kind of seed cover, and some of their seeds produce toxic compounds. Soapberry bugs are masters of adaptation, very quickly adapting to introduced plants that have thicker seed covers, seeds surrounded by papery capsules, and seeds at varying depths in the fruit, as well as adapting to the toxic chemicals that repel other insects. In an area with several different host plants, different populations of soapberry bugs will be adapted for each species of plant.

This rapid adaptation is being studied extensively to learn more about the genetics of adaptation.