Hi everyone!
Not been on the forums for a long time... good to see some familiar names on here still!
Most of you (that know me) know that I love shieldbugs. So I set about compiling life cycle compilations of the species where I'd managed to capture each stage from egg to adult (only 8 species so far, so it's work in progress).
This information (plus much more!) is available on the British Bugs website of course, but my thought was that seeing each stage side by side so to speak might be helpful for anyone to recognise species more easily and thus provide more records! :-)
Common Green shieldbug (Pentatomidae - Palomena prasina):
top left: eggs, then hatchlings/1st instar nymphs, then 2nd instars
centre left: 3rd instar, 4th instar, and a dark form 5th/final instar
Bottom left: light form 5th/final instar, Spring/Summer adult, Autumn/Winter adult.
Gorse shieldbug (Pentatomidae - Piezodorus lituratus):
top left: eggs, then hatchlings/1st instar nymphs, then 2nd instar
Hairy shieldbug (Pentatomidae - Dolycoris baccarum)
Woundwort shieldbug (Pentatomidae - Eysarcoris venustissimus)
centre left: 3rd instar, 4th instar, and a 5th/final instar
Bottom left: 5th/final instars with a teneral (recently moulted) adult, then adults from different angles as these don't have a seasonal colour variation.
Parent bug (Acanthosomatidae - Elasmucha grisea)
This species is different in the way that, as the common name suggests, the female stays with the eggs and nymphs until they are 2 or 3 weeks old.
top left: Female with eggs, then hatchlings/1st instar nymphs, then 2nd instars
centre left: 3rd instars, 4th instars, then 5th/final instars with some tenerals (recently moulted) and a few 4th instars due to moult.
Bottom left: 5th/final instars, Spring/Summer adult, Autumn/Winter adult.
Birch shieldbug (Acanthosomatidae - Elasmostethus interstinctus)
Juniper shieldbug (Acanthosomatidae - Cyphostethus tristriatus)
Bottom left: teneral 5th/final instar & skin, Adults in cop, Adult. (Again these don't seem to have any seasonal colour variations)
Dock bug (Coreidae - Coreus marginatus)
top left: eggs, then hatchlings/1st instar nymph, then 2nd instar
centre left: 3rd instar, 4th instar, and a dark 5th/final instar
Bottom left: lighter 5th/final instar, Teneral adult, typical adult.
Working hard on finding the missing stages for the other species so that I can eventually add to this collection!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Thank you very much HAZY! :-D
Here are some photos of my shield bugs, first the eggs as I found them: www.flickr.com/.../ And here are the babies about three weeks later: https://www.flickr.com/photos/46179718@N06/49944282188/in/datetaken-public/ They seem happy to remain clustered around the egg cases, but I'd really like to release them as soon as possible with best chance of survival. I haven't quite given them all names yet..... :o) Any advice welcome...