Africa Wild

Plant Bug
Superfamily Miroidea. Family Miridae.


© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

The Miridae are one of the largest groups of Heteroptera (Hemiptera). With more than 11,100 described species worldwide, this family contains major plant pests, that pierce plant tissues, feed on the sap, and sometimes transmit viral plant diseases. Some species however, are predatory.

Diagnosis
Body elongate ovate to short and ovate; body size 1 to 15 mm, mostly 3 to 6 mm.
Head triangular; clypeus usually more‑or‑less vertical; eyes usually large; ocelli absent (except subfamily Isometopinae). Antennae with
four segments, segments 3 and 4 usually only slightly smaller in diameter than segment 2; labium with four segments, sometimes with subdivisions in Cylapinae, usually long and tapering, diameter of segment 1 greatest.
Many mirids have a hunched look, because of the shape of the prothorax, which carries the head bent down.
One useful ID feature is the presence of a cuneus; it is the triangular tip of the corium, the firm, horny part of the forewing, the hemelytron. The cuneus is visible in nearly all Miridae.
The tarsi almost always have three segments.

Gardenia Twig Wilter Carlisis wahlbergi
Superfamily Coreoidea. Family Coreidae. Subfamily Coreinae. Tribe Petascelini

Kirstenbosch © Michele Nel


Description
Size 20-26 mm. Wings marked with tan and black. The heads are quite small relative to the large bodies and legs. Antennae sriped white and black. Abdominal margins white and black banded. Posterior legs have enlarged femora, which is a key characteristic of the Leaf-Footed Bugs.
Nymphs: The juvenile insect looks quite different from the adult form. The antennae and abdominal margin still possess white and black stripes, as with the adults. However, there is an additional white band on the leg tarsus and a red one on the femur. Because the wings are absent in the nymphs, it's possible to see two black, raised circles on the abdomen, which are encircled with a white ring. There are additional red markings on the pronotum, as well as the upper region of the abdomen.
Eggs: The eggs are reddish-brown or burgundy. They attach to the woody parts of the host plant, looking similar to scale insects!

Carlisis wahlbergi has odoriferous glands that release irritating substances known as alarm pheromones. It can spray the defensive substances via the dorsal abdominal glands to combat natural enemies. These defensive substances also act as alarm volatiles between conspecifics.

Stink Bug
Superfamily Pentatomoidea. Family Pentatomidae. Subfamily Pentatominae. Tribe Halyini

Nymph of a Stink Bug in the tribe Halyini, Upington, Dec 2017 © nan

Brown Stink Bug Coenomorpha nervosa
Superfamily Pentatomoidea. Family Pentatomidae. Subfamily Pentatominae. Tribe Halyini




Nymph, garden in Johannesburg © BluTuna

Adult C. nervosa have a characteristic mottled appearance that spreads over the head, pronotum, and hemilytra. The black-coloured posterior wings are visible at the posterior end of the abdomen. Each antenna has two distinctive orange bands that are present on the basal angle of each the last two antennules. There is also an orange band present on the median of the tibia on each leg. The head is elongated 1.21 times as long as it is broad and the veins in the wings are brown.

Adult pentatomids are very active feeders that will migrate between plants in order to feed. Both the adults and nymphs initially rely on camouflage in order to avoid predation. If approached, C. nervosa will cease to move and emit a foul-smelling defensive pheromone.

Nymphs: Pentatomidae nymphs emerge from the egg by opening a disc-shaped cap that is present at the top of the egg body. Egress from the egg takes about five minutes. As with all pentatomid nymphs, they lack developed wings. The first-instar nymphs congregate around the egg cluster until their first moult. After the first moult, the second-instar C. nervosa nymphs acquire a darker colouration and disperse from the egg cluster. Subsequent moults from the third to the fifth instar lead to a regimented increase in size and a further shift in colouration as the nymphs begin to resemble the adult C. nervosa.

Eggs: C. nervosa eggs are laid in clusters of usually around 25 eggs, of which each is about 1 mm in diameter. The individual eggs are light green in colour, with a barrel-like appearance, and are securely attached to the substrate on which they are located. The clusters are laid underneath bark or within the nook of a branch on a tree.


Links:
http://scholar.ufs.ac.za:8080/xmlui/bit ... sequence=1
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rider/Pent ... morpha.htm

Picasso Bug Sphaerocoris annulus
Superfamily Pentatomoidea. Family Scutelleridae. Subfamily Scutellerinae. Tribe Sphaerocorini

Mpumalanga © Richprins

Shield bugs are called thus because of the greatly enlarged, shield-shaped scutellum, often convex in shape, that almost or completely covers the upper abdomen.

Description
Length: 8-15 mm. Unmistakable, named after Pablo Picasso, because of the similarity between the look of his work and its pattern. The colours and design of the pronotum and scutellum with sinuous and transversal markings and eleven areas with blackoutlines distributed in a 5-4-2 pattern serve as a warning to predators.

Distribution
Widespread across tropical and subtropical Africa.

Biology
S. annulus feeds on a variety of plants, and is considered a (minor) pest on cash crops. The species is monovoltine and reproduces at the beginning of the dry season. The full development takes 56 days.

Giant Assassin Bug Platymeris guttatipennis
Superfamily: Reduvioidea. Family: Reduviidae. Subfamily: Reduviinae


Marloth Park, South Africa © Richprins


Description
Femora black with orange annuli. Humeral angles of the pronotum without distinct spines. Spots on the corium pale.

Platymeris Laporte, 1833, is an Afrotropical genus of large assassin bugs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) that includes 13 species. Representatives of the genus are often kept as pets or lab animals. They have been used as model organisms in the studies of reduviid venom and pigment production.
The habit of Platymeris spitting venomous salivary gland secretions is known to the scientific community since Edward’s description of this behaviour (Edward 1962).