Sections

Today my supervisor showed me some photographs of male leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) feeding on river mud, a behaviour not previously recorded.

It got us thinking and we talked about unusual feeding amongst the Hemiptera in general, including some observations I made last year and a those featured in a summary paper about the Heteroptera.

Consumption of faeces (coprophily) and carrion (necrophily) has previously been observed in 35 Heteropteran species in eight families, the majority of which were seen in the Coreidae, six species, and Alydidae, four species (Jérôme, 2007). This behaviour has been mostly (95% of the time) recorded in male insects.

During July and August 2008 I saw Pentatoma rufipes (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) & Coreus marginatus (Hemiptera: Coreidae) feeding on fresh (wet) bird droppings. At the time I presumed this was well-recorded behaviour, made a note of it, and carried on with my field work. Whilst I wont presume observations of those two species have never been published, the summary paper by Jérôme doesn’t mention those two species.

Coreus marginatus on bramble

Whilst there are some theories about why these bugs engage in this unusual behaviour, I intend to do some information hunting and find out more. I’ve been told that butterflies feed on faeces or mud, so that seems a good place to start looking.

Jérôme, C. (2007) Note on coprophily and necrophily in the Hemiptera Heteroptera. Entomologie, 77: 107-112.

Dolycoris baccarum (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) belongs to one of my favourite insect families, the shield bugs. I have fond memories of seeing shield bugs as a child and they make me think of summer. I hope to see all of the British Pentatomidae and have been planning my some of my summer trips to fill the gaps.

Dolycoris baccarum (adult)

I find D. baccarum particularly attractive because of the pattern on its antennae and connexivum (the part with black markings either side of the abdomen). Another notable feature of D. baccarum is that it’s covered in fine hairs. If you look hard in the photo above you can see them.

The adults overwinter and become active in late Spring, laying their eggs around June. It often feeds on Prunus spinosa (blackthorn/sloe) from which it gets one of its vernacular names, the sloe bug, but will feed on other plants.

For more information, photographs and an illustrated stages chart, go to the British Bugs page. I got some information from the photographic shieldbug guide by Martin Evans and Roger Edmondson which I recommend and is referenced below.

Reference:

Evans, M. & Edmondson, R. (2005) A Photographic Guide to the Shieldbugs and Squashbugs of the British Isles. WGUK.