Dotted nettle bug
| Dotted nettle bug | ||||||||||||
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Liocoris tripustulatus |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Liocoris | ||||||||||||
| Fabricius, 1781 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Liocoris tripustulatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1781) |
The genus of Liocoris belongs to the family of soft bugs (Miridae). It contains only the Palearctic species Liocoris tripustulatus . Due to its appearance and its preference for nettles, it is often referred to in German as the dotted nettle bug .
description
The insects are oval in body and reach between 3.8 and 5 millimeters in length. They have clearly structured bright antennae about the length of their body . The top of the body is bald and shiny. The hemi -coverts ( hemielytres ) and the pronotum are tinted dark brown to black and have lighter, variable, but mostly yellowish to reddish spots in the wing centers and on the wing tips in front of the membrane. A conspicuous yellow label ( scutellum ) dominates the top of the animals as a triangular to heart-shaped mark. The head with large, laterally protruding complex eyes and the legs are clearly lighter than the body. The latter are usually spotted dark.
distribution and habitat
The bug colonizes all of Europe from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, excluding North Africa. Their distribution area extends in the east over Asia Minor and the Caucasus to Central Asia. The species is common in Central Europe, especially in Germany and Austria. It lives in sunny open land biotopes such as gardens, ruderal fields or fallow land as well as in light forests. It probably feeds exclusively on the sap of the large and small nettle ( Urtica dioica and U. urens ). Sometimes it is also found on other plants such as meadowsweet ( Filipendula ulmaria ) or ground elder ( Aegopodium podagraria ). It is unclear whether other plants serve as food in addition to the nettle, whose flowers and fruits it suckles.
Way of life
The adult bugs overwinter in the leaf litter under loose bark or in hollow plant stems. The larvae that hatch from May are green. Adult animals can be observed from July. Eggs are laid in the top of the petioles of nettles. The bugs form one generation a year.
literature
- E. Wachmann, A. Melber & J. Deckert: Bugs Volume 2: Cimicomorpha: Microphysidae (lichen bugs), Miridae (soft bugs) . Revised version of the bugs in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2004, ISBN 3-931-37457-2
