Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera)Eucalyptus Tip-wilting Bug Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) Ippatha australiensis Soapberry Bugs, Leptocoris sp Spilostethus sp Water Scorpion
One of the Large Milkweed Bugs, genus Spilostethus (possibly Spilosethus hospes, formerly Lygaeus hospes).
Also commonly known as Lygaeid Bugs, these bugs are quite colourful in bright red/orange or yellow, and black or brown in colours. They have a slight elongated body shape, ocelli (light detecting organs composed of s single lens – “simple eye”). They have a scutellum (a hard plate or scale on the thorax of the insect) with distinct weak-raised Y-shaped mark.
Most Lygaeid Bugs feed on seeds or plant sap and during the breeding season, the adults, together with the different instar stages can be found feeding on the same plant. Pictured here is the adult Lygaeus hospes on the foliage of the sweet potato plant.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Hemiptera
- Suborder: Heteroptera
- Infraorder: Pentatomomorpha
- Superfamily: Lygaleoidea
- Family: Lygaeidae
- Subfamily: Lygaeinae
- Genus: Spilosethus
- Species:
- Spilosethus decoratus
- Spilosethus hospes
- Spilosethus pacificus
Footnote & References
- Many thanks for ID to Daniel Heald and Helen Van-Ross, members of Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277/
- Spilostethus Stål, 1868, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/e8396de8-89d9-4be2-88d5-00ee5f9ce9c3
- Lygaeid Bugs – Superfamily LYGAEOIDEA, Brisbane Insects and Spiders, https://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_lygaeoidbugs/Lygaeidea.html
- Lectotype of Lygaeus hospes Fabricius, 1794 var. celebensis Breddin, 1901, Researchgate, https://www.researchgate.net/figure/FIGURES-1-3-Lectotype-of-Lygaeus-hospes-Fabricius-1794-var-celebensis-Breddin-1901_fig1_277602437
Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera)Eucalyptus Tip-wilting Bug Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) Ippatha australiensis Soapberry Bugs, Leptocoris sp Spilostethus sp Water Scorpion
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