16 Wednesday Mar 2022
Tags
British bugs, Common Green Shieldbug, Coreus marginatus, Dock bug, Dolycoris baccarum, Hairy shieldbug, Palomena prasina
The shallow bowl shape of the leaves of Winter heliotrope were perfect for the bugs enjoying Monday’s warm spring sunshine. In one small sheltered area I found several Common green shieldbugs (Palomena prasina) . . .
two Hairy shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum) . . .
and two Dock bugs (Coreus marginatus).
18 Tuesday Jan 2022
Here’s another recent surprise find, a Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) covered in early morning dewdrops. Obviously, it’s not green: these bugs overwinter as adults, changing their colouring from green to dark brown before the winter weather really sets in, usually around November. The British bugs website says these shieldbugs usually hibernate – perhaps this little beastie was caught out by the previously milder-than-usual temperatures.
03 Friday Sep 2021
Posted in insects
Do you have a favourite bug? I think the shieldbug is mine. Always cute, often comical, reasonably easy to identify – what’s not to love?
Gorse shieldbug, 2nd instar
Red-legged shieldbug, final instar
And a selection of Common green shieldbugs
13 Tuesday Apr 2021
Tags
British insects, Common Green Shieldbug, Exapion ulicis, Gorse weevil, Green shieldbug, Palomena prasina
Slowly, slowly, more insects are emerging. When I was getting a Gorse photo for last Sunday’s yellow wildflower challenge, this teeny tiny Gorse weevil (Exapion ulicis) paid a visit. I’m not sure if it was getting salt from my hand as it seemed quite reluctant to leave.
And yesterday I was scanning a Buddleja for leaf mines when I had the feeling I was being watched. This Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) was very well camouflaged sitting perfectly still on its leaf.
01 Thursday Oct 2020
Posted in insects
Another day, another hitchhiker, another shieldbug. Last time, it was a Hawthorn shieldbug, this time it was a Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina). I have no idea where I picked this one up but sometime during today’s meander, it chose to fly or drop on to my backpack and hitched a ride home with me.
I popped it inside a glass – I knew those shot glasses would come in handy for something – and took a few photos of its underside, which I don’t usually get to see, before opening the window and letting it fly off into the sunset.
11 Tuesday Aug 2020
Posted in insects, nature, plants, wildflowers
Tags
Arctium minus, Banded burdock fly, British insects, Common Green Shieldbug, Lesser burdock, Palomena prasina, Terellia tussilaginis
Lesser burdock (Arctium minus) seems to be having a good year as I’ve been finding lots of vigorous, flowering plants during my local walks, and they’re home to some interesting mini-beasties. One I always look for is the Banded burdock fly (Terellia tussilaginis), and it also seems to be thriving locally.
And, on one particular clump of burdock, I found a bounty of Common green shieldbugs (Palomena prasina), as I’ve done before (see my previous post Keeping it in the family, from September 2017). Once again, these were a mix of juvenile stages, 3rd and 4th instars, I think.
Of course, there are lots of other mini-beasties that also find Burdock flower nectar delicious – these two bees are just a couple of examples. What beasties have you seen on Burdock?
04 Saturday Jul 2020
Tags
British insects, Common Green Shieldbug, Grypocoris stysi, harlequin ladybird, Ichneumonid wasp, Orange ladybird
These are a few recent insect that have caught my eye …
First up, the 4th instar of a Common green shieldbug that was walking along the outside of a building as I passed. These mini-beasties go through five different instars (stages) before becoming adults. For more see A (shield)bug’s life, September 2016.
A flower bug that loves umbellifers, Grypocoris stysi. You can read more about him/her in my previous blog, Get a Gryp-o!, July 2016.
I found this Orange ladybird browsing on leaves covered with a white mould, their favourite food. See more on these little cuties in A Blast of Orange, July 2017.
I’ve been spotting a lot of Ichneumonid wasps this year. Most are quite difficult to identify, as you need to photograph them from several different angles to capture all the identifying features and I find they don’t usually stay still long enough.
And, last for today, what I think is a Harlequin ladybird, judging from the patterns on the now-empty pupa case. When newly emerged, ladybirds are often pale coloured and dot-less – the colours darken and the spots emerge in their first few hours as adults.
15 Saturday Feb 2020
Tags
British insects, Common Green Shieldbug, Green shieldbug, Palomena prasina, sunbathing shieldbug
Obviously, these photos were not taken today, as Storm Dennis is currently blasting the British Isles – though, in truth, here in south Wales we are not getting quite as much rain as I expected, nor are we being battered as severely as we were by the fiercely gusting winds that accompanied last weekend’s Storm Ciara, for which I am extremely grateful.
My photos of this Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) were taken a week ago, on a warm (for the time of year) sunny day. And, as I have just read in a tweet by SEWBReC, our local biodiversity records centre, that ‘Now is a good time of year to spot shieldbugs sunbathing on (rare!) sunny days’, I thought I would make this little sunbather my critter of the day.
26 Tuesday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, ladybird, nature, spring
Tags
#365DaysWild, 7-spot ladybirds, bee-flies, Comma butterfly, Common Green Shieldbug, Dark-edged bee-fly, Peacock butterfly, Penarth Rail Trail, Sawfly, south Wales coastal path, Speckled wood
I walked further than I intended today but I just couldn’t resist the sunshine, the calls of the birds, the bees and hoverflies buzzing all around, the white blossom and the vibrant green leaf growth … it was magical! Yesterday, I saw my first Peacock butterflies of the year and today I saw four more, plus my first two Speckled woods and my first Comma, my first Common green shieldbug and my first Dark-edged bee-flies, lots of them, and my first 7-spot ladybirds. It gladdens my heart to see so much new life emerging.
15 Thursday Sep 2016
If you thought your life was complicated, think again.
Though it has just one generation each year, like many bugs Palomena prasina, the Common Green Shieldbug, has a very complex life cycle. Between egg and adult, it goes through five transitional phases (called instars) and at each stage, as it grows into adulthood, it looks a little different, its patterning and colouration varying each time it moults. As its name implies it is mostly green, though it can also have black markings and, as it approaches the time for winter hibernation, the adult shieldbug often changes to a bronze-brown colour.
Such variation can make Palomena prasina difficult to identify and their mostly green hues also act as good camouflage on the plants and bushes they inhabit so, although these bugs are supposedly common and widespread in Britain and at 12-14mm they’re relatively large, I haven’t seen as many as I expected. These are some I did manage to detect.
earthstar 
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