Bug Blog

A certain professor and a colleague have been calling for "more bugs" on the blog so here goes. Firstly for the non-entomological types, especially the North Americans, all insects are not "bugs" but all bugs are insects.

Simply put, a bug is an insect that has sucking, not chewing, mouthparts and has gradual metamorphosis. When winged, the forewing is divided, half is membranous, the other half is hardened.
They are members of the order Hemiptera (in the olde sense!)

So here goes, tropical bugs.

 Coreidae: Sciophyrella australicus

 Largidae: Physopelta gutta

 Alydidae: Riptortus sp.

 Undetermined bug with newly hatched bug-lings

 Reduviidae: Harptacorinae: Euagorus dorycus  feeding on another bug

 Reduviidae: Pristhesancus plagipennis sharing caterpillar food with ants

 Note the beakwork

 After feeding, the ants continue the mop up.

 Tessaratomidae: Cumare pallida. Tessaratomids are bugs that look after their eggs an young. See the detailed study by Monteith below for details. A very interesting group in Australia.

Tessaratomidae: Lyramorpha parens. We have dealt with this one before. 

 Tessaratomidae: Lyramorpha parens guarding young.

 Probably Pentatomidae: Bromocoris souefi, a nymph but it could be a pentatomid as well.

Reduviidae: Harpactacorinae, undetermined genus, perhaps Helonotus

Pyrrhocoridae: Dindymus sp mating

 Pyrrhocoridae: Dindymus sp. Slight different colour morph.

 >Pentatomidae: nymph on Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea  at night

 Pentatomidae: Poecilometis eximus mating on Grass Tree


Thanks to Tom Weir and G. Cassis for help with the identifications. Any errors are not theirs.

Literature

Monteith, G. B. 2006. Maternal Care in Australian oncomerine shield bugs (Insecta, Heteroptera, Tessaratomidae). Denisia 19, zugliech Kataloge der OO, Landesmuseen Neue Serie 50: 1135-1152.