Three shieldbug nymphs

13 Wednesday Aug 2025

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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.

Parent bug mother and eggs

23 Wednesday Jul 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British insects, British shieldbugs, Elasmucha grisea, Parent bug, Parent bug eggs, Parent bug female brooding eggs, shieldbug

You might remember a very colourful and joyful blog from July last year (Parent bug mother and babies) when I shared a sighting of a Parent bug (Elasmucha grisea) female with her huge brood of young buglets (or, more correctly, nymphs, but I quite like buglet!). Well, just as I was heading home from a recent wander around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, I was fossicking through the leaves of an Italian alder tree and spotted this scene.

Though her colouring is quite pale, this is also a Parent bug mother, only this time she’s huddling over and protecting her eggs. Whether or not she was still in the process of laying the eggs or whether these eggs were a few days old I don’t know, and I didn’t want to disturb her by looking more closely. I grabbed a couple of quick photos and left her to her mothering duties.

Juniper shieldbug

03 Tuesday Jun 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

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British shieldbugs, Cyphostethus tristriatus, Juniper shieldbug, shieldbug on Juniper, shieldbug on Lawson's cypress

This is a bug I never thought I’d see locally as I don’t know any locations where Juniper trees grow. Fortunately for me, and as stated on the British Bugs website, the Juniper shieldbug (Cyphostethus tristriatus) has started living on Lawson’s cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) as well as its traditional host tree, the Juniper (Juniperus communis) for which it is named. And Lawson’s cypress is a popular planting in gardens and parks, which is where this tree was growing, alongside a path that runs around a local recreation ground.

British Bugs explains that adult Juniper shieldbugs, with the beautiful reddish-pink markings on their backs, can be seen all year round, though they tend not to be too active during the coldest winter months, like most of us. The nymphs that hatch from mid to late Spring feed on Juniper and Cypress berries and, like all shieldbugs, they go through a series of instars before reaching adulthood. The website has excellent, illustrated downloadable charts of the various stages of most shieldbug species for easy identification if you happen to spot a nymph and, now that I know where this Juniper shieldbug lives, I’ll have to go back and look for more, adults and nymphs.

Common and green

30 Thursday Jan 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, winter

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British shieldbugs, Common Green Shieldbug, Green shieldbug, Palomena prasina

I called this blog common and green as that is the name of this lovely creature, the Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina), but this particular shieldbug’s colour looked to be half way between its summer green colour and the bronze it assumes during the winter months.

It was basking on an ivy leaf, out of the chill wind, in today’s relatively warm winter sunshine, and, in my fanciful imagination, I thought it looked to be smiling contentedly. I was certainly smiling to see this, my first shieldbug of 2025.

Parent bug mother and babies

12 Friday Jul 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British insects, British shieldbugs, early instar Parent bug nymphs, Elasmucha grisea, Parent bug, Parent bug nymphs, shieldbug

Leaf-bothering is quickly becoming one of my favourite things, especially when the weather isn’t good for bird-watching or spotting beautiful insects like butterflies and dragonflies. And it is most special when I turn over a leaf to see scenes like this, of a Parent bug (Elasmucha grisea) and her many babies (according to the British Bugs website, the male bug dies soon after mating while the female lives on to brood her eggs and young offspring). And these weren’t all of the Parent bug’s nymphs, as a neighbouring leaf held even more – I stopped counting at 80! At least she doesn’t have to feed them all.

240712 parent bug and babies

A colony of Woundwort shieldbugs

11 Tuesday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, plants

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British shieldbugs, Eysarcoris venustissimus, Hedge woundwort, Stachys sylvatica, Woundwort shieldbug

I was actually checking the Hedge woundwort plants growing alongside our local coastal path for leaf-mining moths (of which there were none) when I spotted first one Woundwort shieldbug, then another, and another, and then two mating.

240611 woundwort shieldbugs (3)

In fact, I eventually counted eight, which is more than I’ve ever seen in one spot before. Hopefully, this means their numbers are increasing generally as they are very handsome little bugs.

240611 woundwort shieldbugs (2)

As well as feeding on Hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica), the Woundwort shieldbug (Eysarcoris venustissimus) is also partial to the Lamiaceae species of plants, especially White dead-nettle (Lamium album).

240611 woundwort shieldbugs (1)

Three little shieldbugs

01 Tuesday Aug 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British shieldbugs, Bronze shieldbug, Bronze shieldbug mid instar, Eurygaster testudinaria, Pentatoma rufipes, Red-legged shieldbug, shieldbug, Tortoise shieldbug, Tortoise shieldbug final instar, Troilus luridus

When the sun’s shining (which, admittedly, hasn’t been very often in the last couple of weeks), the patches of bramble and low scrub seem to be full of shieldbugs of various sizes and stages, basking in the welcome warmth. Two I’ve seen recently have been new to me:

230801 bronze mid instar

Although I’ve seen Bronze shieldbugs (Troilus luridus) before, I’ve not seen this particular variation, which is a mid instar, halfway between egg and adult.

230801 Eurygaster testudinaria tortoise final instar

You might remember the lesson I learnt back in July 2022 (Blackberries, yum!) to always check a Blackberry before putting it in my mouth. Well, that held true again recently: I was about to pluck this luscious-looking berry when I noticed its occupant. This little critter is the final instar of the Tortoise shieldbug (Eurygaster testudinaria), a new shieldbug for me.

230801 red-legged shieldbug

And this last bug is not new at all but I liked the way it was posing, and the fact that I was able to get some shots of the lovely speckling on its belly. This is an adult Red-legged shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes).

Little Gorse shieldbugs

06 Thursday Jul 2023

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British shieldbugs, Gorse shieldbug, Gorse shieldbug instars, Piezodorus lituratus, shieldbug nymphs

I’ve blogged about Gorse shieldbugs (Piezodorus lituratus) before, in particular the adult bugs and their amazing little barrel-shaped eggs (in A bug and its eggs, April 2022) but I’ve only once before seen one of the intermediate stages of the nymphs between egg and adult (a second instar – see A shieldbug selection, September 2021). Until last week, that is. And these Gorse shieldbugs, of various instars, were actually grazing on Broom rather than Gorse. (The British Bugs website has both photographs and a chart of the diversely coloured nymphs, if you’re interested in more information.)

230706 gorse shieldbug instars

Hairy in hiding

10 Wednesday May 2023

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British shieldbugs, dandelion seedhead, Hairy shieldbug

I’m not sure what this Hairy shieldbug was doing – well, actually there were two of them, and they’d both decided they were going to play hide and seek under the fluffy umbrella of a Dandelion seedhead. Crazy, but cute!

230510 hairy shieldbugs

Lurking beneath

23 Wednesday Nov 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, leaves

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British bugs, British shieldbugs, Elasmucha grisea, leaf-turning, Parent bug

This is my favourite time of year for leaf turning, not only because it’s the best time of year to search for leafmines but also because you never know what you might find lurking beneath. In this instance, a rosy red Parent bug (Elasmucha grisea), which overwinters as an adult bug, was hiding away beneath the leaves in a well-vegetated spot.

221123 parent bug