| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hemiptera |
Shield Bugs, Stink Bugs.
Salient features of adults. Terrestrial.
Phytophagous. Small to large; 8–15 mm long; fliers; emitting repugnatorial liquid as a defence reaction; relatively stout bodied. Head non-linear. Rostrum clearly separated ventrally from the prosternum by a sclerotized gula. Antennae longer than the head, readily visible from above; 5 segmented; non-aristate. Scutellum very large (this triangular or sub-triangular). Metathorax with a scent-gland opening, comprising a funnel surrounded by a dull patch of elaborately sculptured cuticle, visible laterally on either side. Fore-wings well developed; in the resting insect lying more or less flat over the abdomen; differentiated into a basally thickened and a distally membranous region; with a clavus. Tarsi 2 segmented. The abdomen without ventral silvery pubescence. The second visible abdominal sternite with a long, spine-like, forwardly directed anterior process.
The mesosternum with a median keel. Including species well known for the female guarding the eggs until they hatch.
Taxonomy. Suborder Heteroptera; Pentatomoidea.
British representation. 5 species in Britain; genera 4. Acanthosoma, Cyphostephus, Elasmostethus, Elasmucha. E.g., Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale (Hawthorn Shield-bug, Red-tipped Shield-bug).
Illustrations. • Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale (Original generic description. Red-tipped Shield-bug: B. Ent. 28). • Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale (dissections: B. Ent. 28). • Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale (legend+text: B. Ent 28). • Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale (text: B. Ent 28, cont.). • Acanthosoma, Cyphostethus, Elasmostethus, Elasmucha (Southwood & Leston). • Acanthosoma, Cyphostethus tristriatus, Elasmostethus interstinctus (with Coreidae): Saunders, 1892.. ACANTHOSOMATIDAE. 1, Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale. 2 and 3, Elasmostethus interstinctus. 4, Cyphostethus tristriatus. COREIDAE. 5, Spathocera dalmanni. 6, Enoplops scapha. 7, Coreus marginatus. 8. Syromastus rhombeus. 9, Gonocerus acuteangulus. 10, Arenocoris falleni. From Saunders (1892).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hemiptera. Version: 27th July 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
