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Tag Archives: insect behaviour

What’s on the teasel, 1

17 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

British insects, Dolycoris baccarum, Green shieldbug, insect behaviour, insects on teasels, Palomena prasina, Sloe shieldbug, Teasel

This is the sight that greeted me as I wandered home through Dingle Park the other day.

170817 whats on the teasel (1)

A Sloe shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum) had its head buried deeply into the gaps between the spines of a teasel flower head. The tiny purple flowers had finished so it wasn’t nectaring, and I would’ve thought the flower head too tough for it to be sucking plant sap, so what on earth was it doing?

170817 whats on the teasel (2)

This little Green shieldbug nymph (Palomena prasina), watching from a nearby grass stem (you can see it in the background of the first image), looked as confused and bemused as I was.

170817 whats on the teasel (3)

After a few minutes, the Parent bug backed out of its spiny possie but it didn’t move from the teasel.

170817 whats on the teasel (4)

This was a good opportunity to get a photo of the underside of the bug … but I never did discover what it had been doing.

170817 whats on the teasel (5)

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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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