Nettle bug
| Nettle bug | ||||||||||||
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Nettle bug ( Heterogaster urticae ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Heterogaster urticae | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1775) |
The nettle bug or nettle ground bug ( Heterogaster urticae ) is a type of bug from the Heterogastridae family .
features
The animals are 5.8 to 7.3 millimeters long. Her head and pronotum are provided with long and erect hair. The alternating light and dark pattern on the legs and the connexive is characteristic of the species. The rails ( tibia ) have three dark bands.
distribution
The nettle bug is widespread in the Palearctic and occurs from Western Europe via Central Asia to Japan, but is absent in the far north. The species is widespread and is found in Central Europe as the most common species of its genus in all habitats. In the north, however, the species is rarer than in the south. It was introduced to New Zealand and the Chatham Islands . In the north in particular, populations of host plants exposed to the sun are preferred, but the bedbugs are also found in shady locations, such as in alluvial forests.
Way of life
The species lives on nettles , from which both its German and its scientific name are derived. It can be found on both large nettles ( Urtica dioica ) and small nettles ( Urtica urens ). You can observe the very mobile adults before laying their eggs on a wide variety of other herbaceous plants and also on woody trees. Since the bugs only suckle on the seeds of their host plants, eggs are only deposited on the female plants in the case of the diocese big nettle , unlike the monocial small nettle . Eggs are usually laid in piles of 20 to 30 pieces, with the pile being glued together with secretions. The eggs are seldom laid in smaller groups.
The animals overwinter individually in the litter, under moss and other plant cushions and in hollow plant stems, or together under loose bark and the like. As with most other species of the genus, the females lay their eggs over a longer period of time, which is why larvae can even be found in September.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (bark bugs), Lygaeoidea (ground bugs, etc.), Pyrrhocoroidea (fire bugs) and Coreoidea (edge bugs, etc.). (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 78th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1 , p. 87 ff .
- ^ Lygocoris rugicollis. British Bugs, accessed October 3, 2013 .
- ^ GGE Scudder, AC Eyles: Heterogaster urticae (Hemiptera: Heterogastridae), a new alien species and family to New Zealand. In: The Weta 25: 8-13, 2003 ( Online ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove them Note .; PDF; 55 kB)
literature
- Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (bark bugs), Lygaeoidea (ground bugs, etc.), Pyrrhocoroidea (fire bugs) and Coreoidea (edge bugs, etc.). (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 78th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1 .
Web links
- Heterogaster urticae in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved March 25, 2012
- Nettle bug at www.natur-in-nrw.de