True Bugs - Order Hemiptera, Suborder Heteroptera
This page contains pictures and information about True Bugs
that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- True bug last instars
The insects in Order Hemiptera are extremely diverse in size, shape and
colour. They have one common characteristic: their sucking mouths. They are
incomplete metamorphosis and their young, the nymphs, look much the same as
their adults except smaller and wingless.
True Bugs are in Suborder Heteroptera. They usually have flat and soft
bodies. Their forewings are toughen on the base area and with a membranous tip
part. Their antennae are well developed with up to five segments. Most of them
are from small to medium size. Most
species of true bugs have stink glands.
These glands usually give off a foul odor when the insect is disturbed.
- True bug 1st instars
When bugs just hatched from eggs as 1st instars, they usually stay around their eggs cases. In general the1st instars nymph bugs do not feed when they first emerge. They spend some time ingesting bacteria which the female deposited on the eggs when she laid them. The bug have to liquefy the food with saliva first before they can feed on it.
- There are about a hundreds families in the Suborder Heteroptera. We manage to find some and listed as follows;
Family Reduviidae - Assassin Bugs- All Assassin bugs are predators. They prey on all small animal such as snails, insects including caterpillars, spiders and other arthropods. Their bit can be painful. The antennae of Assassin Bugs are four segmented and about the same length as the body. Their legs are very long.
Family Lygaeidae - Seed Bugs, Milkweed Bugs, Chinch Bugs- Members in his family have their forewings with 4-5 veins. The front section of their forewings is slightly harden and the back section membranous. They are usually brown to red in colour. They are from 4 to 20mm long, with oval shape and flattened body. Their antennae are four segmented.
Family Largidae - Largid Bugs- This is a very small bugs family. Largid bugs are general feeders, sucking juices from a variety of plants. They are close to family Lygaeidae. They are from 4 to 20mm long, with oval shape and flattened body. We only found one species in this family.
Family Pyrrhocoridae - Cotton Stainers- Bugs in this family mainly feed on Malvaceae, including cotton. We found only one species in this family. They have the red and black head, red eyes and pink to orange body, with a small black dot on each forewing.
Family Coreidae - Tip
Wilter, Leaf Footed Bugs, Squash Bugs- Quite a number of bugs in this family can easily be found in Brisbane. They look similar and some are hard to be identified. They are mostly from 10 to 25mm in body length. Their forewings have many veins and their heads are narrower and most often shorter than pronotum. Their antennae are four segmented.
Family Alydidae - Broad Headed Bugs- Alydids have large broad triangular head, nearly as wide as the thorax. Their bodies are relatively slender. They have long antenna and long legs. Some of them feed on fallen pods from Acacia trees and pods of other trees. Some species their nymph mimic ants.
Family Rhopalidae - Leptocoris bugs- We only found one species in this family. The bug has bright red eyes and red abdomen. Its thorax and front wing covers are reddish-brown in colour. Its legs and antenna are black in colour. The last instars looks similar to the adult bugs except their wings are not fully developed.
Family Pentatomidae - Stink Bugs- Bugs in this family will emit a pungent, evil-smelling liquid if disturbed. Their antennae are 5-segmented. Their body are usually in shield-shaped. Stink bugs are distinguished from other bugs by their triangular scutellum which is well extended to cover half of their back. Their legs are thin and with no spines.
-
Family Scutelleridae
- Shield Backed Bugs - Bugs in this family are usually colourful with metallic colour of spots. Shield-backed bugs are plant suckers. They can be distinguished from other bugs by their scutellum completely covered the whole abdomen and wings. This family are closely related to stink bugs and also produce offensive odors when disturbed.
Family Tessaratomidae- Family Tessaratomidae is a small family very close to Family Pentatomidae. All members in this family look like pentatomid except they are large and with very small head. Like the Stink Bugs, they will also will emit a pungent, evil-smelling liquid if disturbed. We only found one species in this family.
Classification :
Superfamily REDUVIOIDEA
Superfamily LYGAEOIDEA
Superfamily COREOIDEA
Superfamily PENTATOMOIDEA
Here are some Bugs that we can not identify yet. Please help.
