Alice Springs Fauna •

Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera)Aphylidae (Pentatomoid Bug) Eucalyptus Tip-wilting Bug Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) Ippatha australiensis Poecilometis patruelis (Shield Bug) Soapberry Bugs, Leptocoris sp Spilostethus sp Water Scorpion

A member of the stink bugs (family Pentatomidae), is this species Ippatha australiensis. This species was rescued from a swimming pool in Alice Springs.

Ippatha australiensis (Stink Bug), family Pentatomidae, Alice Springs NT
Ippatha australiensis (family Pentatomidae), Alice Springs NT

In the following photo, you can see one of the brown memberous wings on top of the elytra, likely stuck on top of the elytra when it fell in the swimming pool.

Ippatha australiensis (Stink Bug), family Pentatomidae, Alice Springs NT
Ippatha australiensis (family Pentatomidae), Alice Springs NT

Following series of photos depict the Ippatha australiensis with the wings being stretched out, flexing and fanning them, likely to dry them out. Once dried, it then flew away.

Belongs within: Pentatomoidea…. The scutellum is usually triangular and smaller than the pronotum but in some members, such as the Ippatha group and the Tarisini and related taxa, it is greatly enlarged to cover most of the abdomen and/or semielliptical in shape (Gross 1975).

Source: Pentatominae, by Christopher Taylor, 8 October 2017, Variety of Life4
Ippatha australiensis (Stink Bug), family Pentatomidae, Alice Springs NT
Ippatha australiensis (family Pentatomidae), Alice Springs NT
Ippatha australiensis (Stink Bug), family Pentatomidae, Alice Springs NT
Ippatha australiensis (family Pentatomidae), Alice Springs NT

  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Subphylum: Hexapoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Informal: Pterygotes
  • Order: Hemiptera
  • Suborder: Heteroptera
  • Infraorder: Pentatomomorpha
  • Superfamily: Pentatomoidea
  • Family: Pentatomidae
  • Subfamily: Pentatominae
  • Genus: Ippatha
  • Species: Ippatha australiensis

Footnote & References

  1. Many thanks to Matthew Connors for species ID, member of Australasian Beetles Only, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1180404322409639/
  2. Ippatha australiensis Distant, 1910, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/6b3cce14-fa00-4a11-8ca0-850ddeae2df2
  3. Ippatha australiensis, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/1045805-Ippatha-australiensis
  4. Pentatominae, by Christopher Taylor, 8 October 2017, Variety of Life, A quick guide to the diversity of living organisms, http://taxondiversity.fieldofscience.com/2017/10/pentatominae.html

Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera)Aphylidae (Pentatomoid Bug) Eucalyptus Tip-wilting Bug Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) Ippatha australiensis Poecilometis patruelis (Shield Bug) Soapberry Bugs, Leptocoris sp Spilostethus sp Water Scorpion

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