Psallus varians

Psallus varians
	Psallus varians
Systematics
Subordination :	Bed bugs (heteroptera)
Family :	Soft bugs (Miridae)
Subfamily :	Phylinae
Tribe :	Phylini
Genre :	Psallus
Type :	Psallus varians
Scientific name
	Psallus varians
	( Herrich-Schäffer , 1841)

Psallus varians is a type of bug from the family of soft bugs (Miridae).

features

The bugs are 3.8 to 4.7 millimeters long. The genus Psallus includes small, often red, gray or dark brown speckled bugs, in which the pronotum and the hemielytres are covered with pale, scale-like hairs and in which the thorns of the rails ( tibia ) arise from black points. The species of the genus can often only be differentiated with difficulty or not at all on the basis of external characteristics. Most of the time, however, the species can be narrowed down based on the host plant. Psallus varians can only be distinguished from a number of other similar species of the genus Psallus , which also occur on oaks, only by microscopic examination.

Occurrence and habitat

The species is distributed in Europe, east across Asia Minor to the Caucasus. It occurs frequently everywhere in Germany and Austria. In some years it can be very individual and is then the most common species of its genus in Central Europe.

Way of life

Psallus varians lives mainly on oaks ( Quercus ), but also occurs on willows ( Salix ), birches ( Betula ), whitebeams ( Sorbus ), hazelnuts ( Corylus ), alders ( Alnus ), ash trees ( Fraxinus ) and especially beech trees ( Fagus ) . The bugs can occasionally be found on conifers, which, however, do not belong to the host range of the species. The adults can be found from the end of May to mid-July, later on only a few females can be found.

Psallus varians usually feed on tree pollen or aphids. In the summer of 2016, however, swarming occurrences in Germany led to the unexpected phenomenon that many people were stung. The stab wounds are said to have become infected, which is probably due to an allergic reaction. The sting of the species, while known to be painful, was not previously known to cause skin redness. Psallus varians is not known to be a disease vector.

supporting documents

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 2: Cimicomorpha: Microphysidae (lichen bugs), Miridae (soft bugs) (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 75th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2006, ISBN 3-931374-57-2 , p. 264 .
^ Psallus varians. British Bugs, accessed July 4, 2015 .
↑ http://www.n-tv.de/wissen/Pflanzensauger-stechen-ploetzlich-Menschen-article17932196.html
↑ Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann: Psallus varians-a bug "plays crazy" (Heteroptera, Miridae). In: Heteropteron, issue 48/2017. Pp. 3–6 , accessed on August 17, 2020 .

literature

Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 2: Cimicomorpha: Microphysidae (lichen bugs), Miridae (soft bugs) (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 75th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2006, ISBN 3-931374-57-2 .

Web links

Commons : Psallus varians - collection of images, videos and audio files

Psallus varians in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved July 4, 2015
www.britishbugs.org.uk - photos, description

[Wachmann-1] A ^b ^c Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 2: Cimicomorpha: Microphysidae (lichen bugs), Miridae (soft bugs) (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 75th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2006, ISBN 3-931374-57-2 , p. 264 .

[British_Bugs-2] Psallus varians. British Bugs, accessed July 4, 2015 .

[3] ttp://www.n-tv.de/wissen/Pflanzensauger-stechen-ploetzlich-Menschen-article17932196.html

[4] Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann: Psallus varians-a bug "plays crazy" (Heteroptera, Miridae). In: Heteropteron, issue 48/2017. Pp. 3–6 , accessed on August 17, 2020 .