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Tag Archives: Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale

Three shieldbug species

06 Friday Mar 2026

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, British shieldbugs, Common Green Shieldbug, Dolycoris baccarum, Green shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug, Hawthorn shieldbug, Palomena prasina, shieldbug

The number and variety of invertebrates that are now out and about is gradually increasing, though seeing them depends on reasonably warm, sunny days, which are still very much intermittent here in south Wales. When the sun does shine though, shieldbugs can be seen basking on the trees of shrubs and wildflowers, and I’ve now managed to spot these three different species.

Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum)

Hawthorn shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

And Green shieldbug (sometimes called Common green shieldbug, Palomena prasina). Both of the above are Green shieldbugs but this species changes to a bronze colour before winter hibernation and takes a little time to change back to its usual green hue come the spring.

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Three shieldbug nymphs

13 Wednesday Aug 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, British shieldbugs, Bronze shieldbug, Bronze shieldbug nymph, Cyphostethus tristriatus, Hawthorn shieldbug, Juniper shieldbug, shieldbug, shieldbug nymphs, Troilus luridus

I’ve found some nice nymphs of our various shieldbug species during recent walks so thought I’d share a few of them. The nymphs almost always look quite different to the adults of the same species; if you’re unsure which shieldbug or which stage (instar) of nymph you’ve found, the British Bugs website has a page full of excellent drawings showing the various instars of all the British shieldbug species.

As this was only my fourth ever sighting of this species, I was particularly pleased to spot this Bronze shieldbug nymph (Troilus luridus), though it would have been difficult to miss as its metallic colours sparkled in the sunshine.

To illustrate how much these bugs change as they grow, I’ve included two photos of Hawthorn shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale), the top image shows early instar nymphs and below that is a mid instar nymph.

It was just a couple of months ago that I saw my first Juniper shieldbug (Cyphostethus tristriatus) and I wrote then (Juniper shieldbug, 3 June) that I was intending to return to the site to look for more, adults and nymphs. I did, and I have; this is one of two nymphs I found recently, a bug that’s just a stunning as the adult, in my humble opinion.

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Final instar Hawthorn shieldbugs

25 Thursday Aug 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, British shieldbugs, final instar Hawthorn shieldbug, Hawthorn shieldbug

My walk of the fields at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park hadn’t turned up any migrating birds so I was having a poke around some trees before heading home when I found these two huddling together amongst the leaves. They’re Hawthorn shieldbug nymphs (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale) in their fifth and final form (instar) before they become adults. (You can see the various instars on the superb British Bugs website.)

220825 hawthorn shieldbugs final instar

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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