| Uniramia |
| --Centipedes |
| --Hexapoda 1 (insects) |
| --Hexapoda 2 (insects) |
| --Hexapoda 3 (insects) |
| --Identification to order level |
| --Insect orders |
| ----Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) |
| ----Ephemeroptera (mayflies) |
| ----Hemiptera (bugs, cicadas) |
| ----Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps & saw flies) |
| ------Bumblebees |
| ----Coleoptera (beetles) |
| ----Dictyoptera (mantids, cockroaches) |
| ----Diptera (true flies) |
| ----Neuroptera (lacewings, ant lions) |
| ----Orthoptera (crickets, locusts) |
| ----Thysanura (bristletails, silver fish) |
| ----Strepsiptera (stylops) |
| ----Thysanoptera (thrips) |
| ----Odonata (dragonflies, damselflies) |
| ----Trichoptera (caddis flies) |
| ----Siphonaptera (fleas) |
| ----Isoptera (termites) |
| ----Phasmida (stick & leaf insects) |
| ----Dermaptera (earwigs) |
| ----Anoplura/siphunculata (sucking lice) |
| ----Mallophaga (biting lice, bird lice) |
| ----Psocoptera (book, bark, dust lice) |
| ----Mecoptera (scorpion flies) |
| ----Collembola (springtail) |
| ----Embioptera (web spinners) |
| ----Plecoptera (stone flies) |
| ----Diplura (bristletails) |
| ----Protura |
| ----Zoraptera |
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Fast
facts about Hemiptera (true bugs)
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- Have piercing
mouthparts, called a rostrum which contains 2 pairs of stylets. The outer pair have serrated edges for piercing, the inner pair form a canal for food to pass up and saliva to pass down. The tip pf the rostrum has receptor cells to assess the suitability of the food source.
- Mouthparts usually fold
under the body like a clasp knife.
- Adults usually have two pairs of wings,
the front pair may be partially hardened.
- The plant feeders can be serious
agricultural pests as they can transmit viral diseases.
- Body length from 1 mm to 130 mm.
- Divided into two
sub-orders; Heteroptera and Homoptera.
- Cuckoo spit is made by a Homopteran bug.
- Over 82 000 species worldwide, over 7 000 in Europe, 1 650 in British Isles.
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Heteroptera |
Homoptera |
| Wings divided into 2 parts, one part being leathery. Includes shield bugs (this page), bedbugs, water striders, pond skaters, and other water bugs. |
Wings entirely membranous or hardened. Includes cicadas, leafhoppers, froghoppers, aphids.
All homoptera are plant feeders. |
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Heteroptera body shape
Left a heteropteran land bug.
Their bodies are generally flattened, with the wings folded flat over the body.
The mouthparts (stylets or rostrum) form two channels allowing food to be
sucked up one and saliva to be pumped down the other (see the diagram of a bug head below).
The bug on the left belongs to the Pyrrhocoridae family, many of which are seed eaters. This is Pyrrhocoris apterus (the fire bug), and is the only member of the family found in Britain, though it is not common. In Europe it can sometimes be seen in huge numbers in spring crawling through the vegetation. |
The drawing on the right shows the typical bug head. |
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Picromerus bidens
The shieldbug on the left, right and below is Picromerus bidens, one of the 17 species in the Pentatomidae family in the U. K. There are about 5000 species world wide, and as their common name suggests the body is shield-shaped.
Picomerus bidens is 13 - 15 mm long when fully grown, and has 2 spikes jutting out from its thorax. It is commonly seen from June - September.
If you are a gardener and you come across this bug then cherish it as it eats the poisonous caterpillars and leaf-eating beetles that birds cannot. It is fairly common in and around woodlands from late summer onwards.
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The female lays eggs in batches of around 30 at a time on the stems and leaves of shrubby plants in the autumn. In the summer the eggs hatch and do feed on plants at first, but then move on to caterpillars and beetles. In milder areas it is possible for the adults to overwinter, but in cold areas all the adults will die off, with only the eggs surviving the winter cold.
In the photograph above right you can just see its rostrum or beak folded under its body. |
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Assassin bug, masked hunter, bed bug hunter, the kissing bug, Reduvius personatus
On the left is Reduvius personatus, the assassin bug, or masked hunter. The name masked hunter is attributed to the nymph which has a sticky body surface which can become covered in debris.
Fully grown adult length is 17 -22 mm. The colour is brown/black. It is common in Europe and the US and adults are commonly seen in June and July. Both adults and nymphs suck the contents of bed bugs, lacewings, earwigs, and anything else they can find.
If handled they can give a painful stab, but do not normally feed on mammal blood, so they do not transmit diseases to mammals. The stab is only in defence. They are active mainly at night.
Adults can stridulate (produce sound by rubbing body parts together) by rubbing their back against their prosternum (first segment of its thorax). They are usually found around and in houses. |
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Anthocoridae
On the right is Anthocoris nemorum, the common flower bug. Body length 3.5 - 4.0 mm. It has a blck head and prothorax, with a black, red/brown and white abdomen.
It feeds on plant lice, aphids, thrips, mites and insect eggs, so if you're a gardener it is a good thing to have on your plants. It can also suck plant sap, but cannot survive on a wholly vegetarian diet. Its proboscis can pierce human skin, and may leave an itchy spot.
The eggs are laid in the spring by females who have mated the previous year. In most years non-mated females and males do not survive the winter.
Acanthosomatidae family
This family of shieldbugs differ from most others as their tarsi (segments of the feet) have only 2 segments instead of the more common 3. There are 5 British species.
The hawthorn shieldbug, Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale (left), is one of the most common. As its name suggests it lives off hawthorn flowers and berries, and the overwintering adults feed on the leaves.
Adults are 13 - 15 mm long, green and brown, and some have red shoulders. The female lays eggs in batches on the undersides of leaves; around 20 eggs in each batch. The eggs hatch in around 9 days and the young remain near the shells until after their first moult. Then they begin feeding.
There is one generation a year and they overwinter as adults. They tend not to be found as far north as Scotland. |
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(C) 1997 - 2012 |
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