|
This page contains pictures and information about True Bugs
that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
 - True bug couple
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.
All of them suck juice from plants or other insects.
   - 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.
Classification :
- There are about a hundreds families in the Suborder Heteroptera. We manage
to find some and listed as follows;
 Family
Gerridae - Water Striders- Bugs in this family are long legs and skate rapidly on water surface. They
are predators of other insects.
-
-
-
-
 Family
Belostomatidae - Giant Waterbugs- Giant Waterbugs are sometimes known as Fish-killer Bugs. They hunt
tadpoles, water insects and small fish in flash water.
-
-
-
-
 Family
Gelastocoridae - Toad Bugs- Bugs in this family are known as Toad Bugs. They live near the water. They
have widen femur of front legs which make it a good swimmer. Toad bugs are
predacious. They hop but cannot fly.
-
-
-
 Family
Notonectidae - Backswimmers- This water bugs swim un side down with bottom facing upwards, so their
common name Backswimmers. They propel with hind pair of long legs. They are
fast swimming predators. They swim under water but often come up surface to
breath.
-
-
-
 Family
Miridae - Mirid Bugs- Some bugs in this family feed on plants only while many others feed on
small soft body insects and insect eggs. Some species feed on both. They are
usually yellow, green brown or black in colours, though some are colourful.
Some are ant mimics.
-
-
-
 Family
Tingidae - Lace Bugs- We found one species in this family. The bug was introduced into Australia
to control the Lantana weeds.
-
-
-
-
 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
Rhyparochromidae - Seed Bugs- We found one species in this family. The bug is mimicking the black ant.
-
-
-
-
 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
Geocoridae - Big-eyed Bugs - Bugs in this group have very big eyes and they are commonly called Big-eyed
Bugs. They have either elongate, elongate-ovoid or oval body. They are seed
feeders but also known to be predaceous. This geocorids were put as the
subfamily of the Lygaeidae. They are raised to family level in 1997.
-
-
 Family
Oxycarenidae - Coon Bugs- We found one species in this family. The bugs are small in size. Their
back is triangular-patterned in black and white colours. We found them on
our hibiscus plants on early spring. The nymphs are black in colour with
blood-red abdomens.
-
-
 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.
-
-
- Most coreoids have a series of longitudinal parallel veins in the membrane
of the fore wings and have ocelli, which distinguish them from lygaeids
above.
-
 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.
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
 Here are
some Bugs that we can not identify yet. Please help.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 479.
- 2. Plant Bugs - Dr Murray Fletcher, PRIMEFACT 508, NSW DPI, May 2007.
- 3. 半翅目 Order Hemiptera(True Bugs)
- 六足王國─台灣的昆蟲 Insects of Taiwan, 2008.
Back to top
[ Up ] [ Family Gerridae ] [ Family Belostomatidae ] [ Family Gelastocoridae ] [ Family Notonectidae ] [ Family Tingidae ] [ Others ]
|
Family Alydidae
Family Rhopalidae