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Shieldbugs. (1 Viewer)

SarahK said:
Hi Harry

Thanks for the help, I obviously haven't been observant but I have never noticed the two spots on the front part just behind the head on Green Sheildbug before, is that part of the winter colouring or just an oddity?

Sarah

Hello Sarah,

Those marks are a common very minor variation from the norm, half the specimens I have examined seem to have it.


Harry
 
harry eales said:
Hello Sarah,

Those marks are a common very minor variation from the norm, half the specimens I have examined seem to have it.


Harry

Thanks Harry, I'll try to be more observant in future!
 
I think this is a parent bug, Elasmucha grisea, but I would like confirmation (or the correct identification). It's the first one I've found here, if it is.
I've looked at some earlier postings on this thread and it does seem to resemble them. It was on what looked like a raspberry cane (!) at the side of a woodland path. There were birch on one side of the path, and alder and sallow on the other side which is a damp area bordering a stream.
 

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Mis said:
I think this is a parent bug, Elasmucha grisea, but I would like confirmation (or the correct identification). It's the first one I've found here, if it is.
I've looked at some earlier postings on this thread and it does seem to resemble them. It was on what looked like a raspberry cane (!) at the side of a woodland path. There were birch on one side of the path, and alder and sallow on the other side which is a damp area bordering a stream.

Hello Mis,
Your ID is correct. Common names can be misleading at times, especially when they associate the insect with a particular plant. In this instance the adult demale does care for her young, hence the name.

Others like Gorse, Hawthorn, Birch, Juniper, Shieldbugs etc can be found on these plants but are by no means confined to them.

Harry
 
Thanks for confirming my identification Harry. I'm building up a list of insects in the patch around my house and this is the second 'new' species already this month!
 
I've always had plenty of green shieldbugs in the garden but this bug is different. I found it yesterday on sage. Unfortunately it moved just as I was about to take its photo so you can't see the antennae which are striped. In fact it was difficult to photo as it kept scurrying down the sage as soon as my shadow bothered it. (Unlike my friendly green shieldbugs!)

Could this be a hawthorn shieldbug or is it something else? As I have said the antennae are striped.

Thanks,

Nerine
 

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I'm sure you've got a sloe bug, Dolycoris baccarum, which does have striped antennae. There is some similarity but the antennae are a giveaway and the hawthorn bug has prominent 'shoulders'.
 
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Mis said:
I'm sure you've got a sloe bug, Dolycoris baccarum, which does have striped antennae. There is some similarity but the antennae are a giveaway and the hawthorn bug has prominent 'shoulders'.

Oh thanks Mis. That's rather exciting! I took another photo a few minutes ago and got the antennae this time.

Many thanks

Nerine
 

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Nerine, it is definitely a sloe bug. Here's a hawthorn shield bug showing off it's pointed shoulders!
 

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Nerine said:
Oh thanks Mis. That's rather exciting! I took another photo a few minutes ago and got the antennae this time.

Many thanks

Nerine


Hello Nerine,

Mis is spot on with the ID. It is a Sloe Bug. A very scarce critter in my part of the UK. I've only ever seen one.

Harry
 
Thank you so much, Mis and Harry. It's the first time I've seen a sloe bug and I'm well chuffed to have one in my garden! :D

Many thanks for your replies.

Nerine
 
Derek, I think you need to start a new thread for the beetle. You'll have more chance of a reply because this thread is for shieldbugs and the beetle people may not look in here.
 
Walked around a local wood at the weekend & beat Green & Birch Shieldbugs & a Parent Bug, both the Birch Shieldbug & the Parent Bug were tapped from the same Hawthorn.

Stuart.
 

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Shieldbug new to Scotland.

I've just spent a couple of days in the Lammermuir Hills, just to the south of Edinburgh.

Beautiful weather, but somewhat breezy at 300m.

Having tried to encourage Scottish Hemipterists to look for the Juniper Shieldbug for some four years or more, I gave up trying, and went and looked myself. The very first Juniper bush I examined produced two specimens. The site is immediately north of Hopes Reservoir on a private estate.

These are the first specimens of this species ever found in Scotland and as such, represent a Scottish National Record.

Whilst this 'made my day' so to speak, it wasn't over yet, dozens of queen Bumblebees were seen, nearly all were Bombus monticola The Mountain or Bilberry Bumblebee. This is the most magnificent looking of all the British Bumblebees, and were nectaring on Bilberry blossom. To top it all off, two larvae of The Northern Brown Argus were found on Rockrose growing on outcrops of calcarious rock.

That's used up my whole years allocation of good luck I think, but it was worth it.

Harry
 
harry eales said:
I've just spent a couple of days in the Lammermuir Hills, just to the south of Edinburgh.

Beautiful weather, but somewhat breezy at 300m.

Having tried to encourage Scottish Hemipterists to look for the Juniper Shieldbug for some four years or more, I gave up trying, and went and looked myself. The very first Juniper bush I examined produced two specimens. The site is immediately north of Hopes Reservoir on a private estate.

These are the first specimens of this species ever found in Scotland and as such, represent a Scottish National Record.

Whilst this 'made my day' so to speak, it wasn't over yet, dozens of queen Bumblebees were seen, nearly all were Bombus monticola The Mountain or Bilberry Bumblebee. This is the most magnificent looking of all the British Bumblebees, and were nectaring on Bilberry blossom. To top it all off, two larvae of The Northern Brown Argus were found on Rockrose growing on outcrops of calcarious rock.

That's used up my whole years allocation of good luck I think, but it was worth it.

Harry
That sounds like a cracking day Harry! Had quite a good one myself - though no shieldbugs:( A new species for me was a [yet to be detemined to species] Oil Beetle; a new colony of the scarce Dotted Bee-fly [Bombylius discolor]; my first Anthophora plumipes and Holly Blue of the year. All this in a concentrated burst of a 15 minutes pit stop visit to a site on Greensand on the edge of the Pewsey Downs AONB.!!
Cheers,
Steve.
 
Hi there. Photographed this today on Bramble deep in Badby Wood Northamptonshire. Rhopalus subrufus I think, maybe, perhaps.
 

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Sloe Bug ?

Photographed this fella in Wrexham, N. Wales Sunday, from a previous post it looks like a Sloe bug.....found him being very shy on a Dandelion.!!

Thanks

Johnty :cool:
 

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I found a number of green shieldbugs, Palomena prasina, on a viburnum bush in my garden. Two were mating and I noticed that one had a brownish edge to the abdomen and was pinkish-brown on the underside.
Is there a colour difference between the sexes or was one still emerging from winter 'plumage'?
 

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