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
The Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) is also known as Red Jewel Bug, and is a species of “true bug”.
This insect is a shiny, small bug, is often deep blue with areas of crimson blotched with blue on scutellum covering the abdomen, with the entire body surface pitted. The antennae filamentous, with a body length of 1 cm. The Choerocoris paganus pictured here is orange-red in colour with dark black-blue patches.
The adults and nymphs feed primarily on the sappy contents of seeds of the hop-bush (Dodonaea viscosa), as pictured here in Alice Springs. The nymphs are gregarious, and will form mixed-size ‘crèches’ that are loosely tended by adults.
See our page on the Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) at the Olive Pink Botanic Garden and the Ground Shield Bug feeding on Dodonaea microzyga at the Alice Springs Desert Park.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Hemiptera
- Suborder: Heteroptera
- Infraorder: Pentatomomorpha
- Superfamily: Pentatomoidea
- Family: Scutelleridae
- Subfamily: Scutellerinae
- Genus: Choerocoris
- Species: Choerocoris paganus
Footnote & References
- Choerocoris paganus (Fabricius, 1775), Ground Shield Bug, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/54d8a8b2-debc-40ef-b934-129951b15d81
Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera)Eucalyptus Tip-wilting Bug Ground Shield Bug (Choerocoris paganus) Ippatha australiensis Soapberry Bugs, Leptocoris sp Spilostethus sp Water Scorpion
Alice Springs InsectsAntlion (Heoclisis fundata) Ants (Formicidae) Bees Beetles Butterflies & Moths (Lepidopterans) Diptera Dragonflies Orthoptera True Bugs (Heteroptera) Wasps
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