Shield bugs

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Shield bugs
Turtle bug (Eurygaster testudinaria), nymph

Turtle bug ( Eurygaster testudinaria ), nymph

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Bed bugs (heteroptera)
Partial order : Pentatomomorpha
Superfamily : Pentatomoidea
Family : Shield bugs
Scientific name
Scutelleridae
Leach , 1815
Odontotarsus purpureolineatus from Istria
Cantao ocellata
Scutiphora pedicellata
Common grain bug ( Eurygaster maura )

Shield bugs (Scutelleridae) are a family of bed bugs (Heteroptera) within the suborder Pentatomomorpha . More than 450 species of approx. 81 genera are known. In Europe 46 species are represented, 13 of which occur in Central Europe.

features

The bugs are 5 to 20 millimeters long and have an ovoid to elongated ovoid body. They are darkly colored, but there are also very strikingly colored species that have a wide range of red, blue, green or yellow tones in their coloring or have a metallic sheen, making them one of the most colorful bugs. There are species of shield bug that show all the colors mentioned at the same time in their coloring. The most noticeable genera include Callidea , Chrysocoris , Cryptacrus , Cosmocoris , Poecilocoris or Scutellera . The bugs have a greatly enlarged, curved scutellum , which usually covers or almost covers the abdomen, which is how the animals got their name. This makes it easy to mistake them for beetles . This feature does not only occur in the shield bugs, but developed independently several times within the Pentatomoidea , e.g. B. in the ball bugs (Plataspididae), or Podopinae (family stink bugs (Pentatomidae)).

Her head is triangular and keeled to the side. The antennae are three to five members, the labium has four members. The pronotum is trapezoidal. The corium and clavus of the hemielytras are membranous. Frena , at the base of the wing membrane are either inoperative or absent and the wings have numerous wing veins . The external part of the drainage system of the scent glands on the metathorax is well developed. In the males, glands are also formed on the sterna in some species . The tarsi are tripartite. The Trichobothria on the abdomen are arranged in pairs caudal to the spiracles . In females, the ovipositor is fringed. The second genital segments ( valvifer dorsalis ) are completely fused. In the male, the base of the spermatheca has a sclerotized groove and an enlarged globe proximal to the flange-shaped parts. In the nymphs , the scent gland openings are located on the abdomen between the terga of the third to sixth abdomen segment .

Occurrence

The family occurs in all zoogeographical regions , but has its main distribution center in the tropics and subtropics, where all the vividly colored species occur.

Way of life

Despite the conspicuousness and size of many species, the way of life of the tortoiseshell has been poorly researched. All species feed by sucking on plants, with some species being considered pests in agriculture. So z. B. Tectocoris diophthalmus in Australia as a pest on cotton and other mallow family (Malvaceae). The species of the genus Eurygaster in the Middle East are also considered to be pests ; other relevant pests also spread in the Palearctic . Brood care is documented for a number of species . Guard z. B. the females of Pachycoris torridus , Tectocoris diophthalmus or Canato ocellatus their clutch.

Taxonomy and systematics

William Elford Leach described the group in 1815 for the first time above the generic rank. Fieber (1861) and Stål (1867) placed the group in the family rank. Kirkaldy (1909) classified the shield bugs as a subfamily of the stink bugs (Pentatomidae), but Van Duzee restored the family status in 1917. Most of the later authors followed this view. Schuh & Slater (1995) divided the family into four subfamilies: Eurygastrinae, Odontotarsinae, Pachycorinae and Scutellerinae. In 1984 McDonald & Cassis described the Tectocorinae as the fifth subfamily and raised the Elvisurinae to subfamily rank. Even if the family's classification was long considered in need of revision, a study in 2008 based on morphological features and DNA sequences confirmed its monophyly . Grazia et al. rather confirmed the division into six subfamilies based on new DNA material. The position of the family within the Pentatomoidea, however, left questions unanswered. The study by Grazia et al. evidence of a relationship with the Plataspididae and Parastrachiidae , as well as with the taxon Acanthosomatidae + Pentatomidae .

According to McDonald & Cassis and Grazia et al. divided into the following subfamilies:

In Europe the family is represented by 7 genera and 46 species:

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Family Scutelleridae. Australian Biological Resources Study. Australian Faunal Directory, accessed April 22, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b Scutelleridae. Fauna Europaea, accessed April 22, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 4: Pentatomomorpha II: Pentatomoidea: Cydnidae, Thyreocoridae, Plataspidae, Acanthosomatidae, Scutelleridae, Pentatomidae. (=  The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 81st part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2008, ISBN 978-3-937783-36-9 , pp. 55 ff .
  4. ↑ a b c d e R. T. Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1995, pp. 238ff.
  5. ↑ Jocelia Grazia, Randall T. Schuh & Ward C. Wheeler: Phylogenetic relationships of family groups in Pentatomoidea based on morphology and DNA sequences (Insecta: Heteroptera). Cladistics 24, pp. 932-976, 2008

literature

  • RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1995.

Web links

Commons : Tortoiseshell Bugs (Scutelleridae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files