NEW ORLEANS - If you peel a satsuma and find that some of the sections are dark and dry, blame the western leaf-footed bug.

The dark-brown insect is less than an inch long. It gets its name from wide, flat sections in the adults' hind legs.

LSU AgCenter plant pathologist Raj Singh says the bugs pierce the satsuma's rind to suck out juices, leaving behind a kind of yeast that causes dry rot in the sections it drank from. Singh says the other sections are fine.

He says you can't identify damaged fruit without peeling them.

He says this year's infestation was the worst so far, and estimates that about 10 percent of the commercial and backyard crop is affected.