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Family Coreidae
- This page contains pictures and information about Eucalyptus Tip-wilter Bugs that we found in
the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. The bugs are also known as Gumtree
Tip Bugs.
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 - Body length 25mm, male
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- The Eucalyptus Tip Bugs are dark brown in colour with light brown and
orange on the legs
and antennae. The are the alternated brown and yellow along the edges of the abdomen. Males have shouter hind femora
and spiny hind legs.
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Male
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  - Female
Mating
pair
Feeding
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- Nymphs are more colourful, yellow-pink in colour with bright blue
patterns. They feed on gum tree, suck sap on
the leaves and young shoots. Above picture shows a mating couple. From
the reference information the copulation time last up to 10 hr in an
end-to-end position.
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 - Nymph
Two males
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- They are are relatively slow moving. Both adults and nymphs will release
strong repellent odours when disturbed.
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 -
Nymph to Adult
 
- Nymph, length 20mm
Few days later
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- The colourful bug nymph was found on 23 March 2001 in Wishart bushland. We wanted to
find out what bug it was so we brought it home. Few days later, after the last
moulting, it turned into a Eucalyptus Tip-wilter Bug.
Ants Attack
- We saw this bug when it was get caught by the Muscleman
Tree Ants. The bug had landed in wrong place and gave the ants an easy
meal. The
bug tried to escape but was held tightly by the ants. A few minutes later,
about ten more ants came and each held the legs and antenna of the bug.
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- More
and more ants came to help. Some ants started to climb on the bug's body and
bite off its wings. Notice that there was an ant, which was slightly larger
in size (in the top left corner of each pictures), standing behind those
ants. It seemed it was the commander of this bug-catching operation. It
never helped to hold the bug, but its touching the smaller ants in turn,
could be giving instructions.
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- After the bug's wings were removed, we can see the top pattern of the bug.
It is the eye catching pattern with bright orange and black colours. It is
the warning pattern to tell the predators, such as birds, that 'I am a
distasteful stink bug'. It obviously did not work on ants.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 439.
- 2. Specimen
Image Index - Insect Reference Collection Database - ICDB,
Western Australian Department of Agriculture, 2006.
- 3. Insect Reference Collection Database - ICDB, ENTOMOLOGY AT DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WESTERN.
- 4. Species
Amorbus alternatus Dallas, 1852 - Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.
- 5.
Studies
on the biology, immature stages, and relative growth of some Australian bugs
of the superfamily Coreoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) - Kumar, R.
1966, Australian Journal of Zoology 14: 895-991 [908].
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