17 Thursday Oct 2019
As well as the cute little flower bug I found on Hedge woundwort (see yesterday’s post), on a nearby plant I also found this Woundwort shieldbug (Eysarcoris venustissimus), its jewel-like colours shining in the sunlight.
As the name implies, Hedge woundwort is one of the plants this bug’s larvae feed upon. Apparently, these shieldbugs were considered rare in the 19th century but their situation has improved and the adults can now be found year round in much of southern Britain.
22 Tuesday May 2018
Tags
British insects, Dolycoris baccarum, Green shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug, Palomena prasina, shield bugs, shieldbug
There’s a little track I often walk down, or up, between my home and Penarth Marina, that’s not been touched by the Council’s destructive strimmers (so far), so it’s a great place to look for wildflowers and critters, and it can take me 30 minutes or more to walk its 100 metres.
When I walked this way the other day, I came across this little Green shieldbug (Palomena prasina). Just look at that innocent-looking face … but don’t be fooled. It was probably the only one of maybe 30 Green shieldbugs I saw that was on its own – all the others were working on ensuring the continuation of their species.
Even the Hairy shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum) I found (only 3 of those) were at it! Given all the bad news we hear these days about declining insect populations, I hope this means the shieldbugs are doing okay.
12 Tuesday Sep 2017
I was checking out a Burdock plant the other day (I rather like their flowers and seed heads, and they have their own special fly) when I suddenly noticed this Green shieldbug and then another one, and another one, and another one …
Turns out there was at least one adult and six nymphs, though more may have been lurking undiscovered. I’m assuming they were all members of the same family, but that is pure surmise.
25 Monday Jan 2016
Posted in insects, nature, nature photography
Some might think the Hawthorn Shield Bug has a rather unfortunate scientific name, Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, but it’s really quite descriptive: acantho is from the ancient Greek for thorn, soma means body, and haemorrhoida derives from the Greek for discharging blood or bleeding, so this bug has a thorn-like body with red patterning that looks like bleeding. The common name is also appropriate: it has a body shaped like the shields of knights of olden times, and the food of choice for its larvae is the hawthorn berry (though they will also eat the berries of rowan, cotoneaster and whitebeam).
Growing up to 17mm (0.67in) long, the Hawthorn Shield Bug is the largest and most common of the five types of shield bug found in Britain, and is also found throughout Europe, in woodlands, parks and gardens. Its colouring means it is usually very well camouflaged and I only found these three bugs by chance today – my eye was attracted to their leaf and they were inside when I uncurled it. The adult bugs usually hibernate during the winter months but often emerge to snack on the leaves during milder weather. I curled them back up in their leaf after taking these photographs so they could continue their snooze.
earthstar 
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