Spilostethus pandurus
| Spilostethus pandurus | |
|---|---|
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| Spilostethus pandurus, upperside | |
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| Sidem view | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Heteroptera |
| Infraorder: | Pentatomomorpha |
| Superfamily: | Lygaeoidea |
| Family: | Lygaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Lygaeinae |
| Genus: | Spilostethus |
| Species: | S. pandurus |
| Binomial name | |
| Spilostethus pandurus (Scopoli, 1763) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Spilostethus pandurus is a species of "seed bugs" belonging to the family Lygaeidae, subfamily Lygaeinae.
Subspecies
Subspecies include: [1]
- Spilostethus pandurus militaris (Fabricius, 1775)
- Spilostethus pandurus pandurus (Scopoli, 1763)
Distribution
This species can be found in the Euro-mediterranean-Turaniaan Region, with a more southern distribution than Spilostethus saxatilis.
It is present in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, in the Afrotropical realm. [2] and in the southern Asia to India and China.
Description
Spilostethus pandurus can reach a length of 13–15 millimetres (0.51–0.59 in). Body shows a red-black coloration with a white spot in the center of the membrane. Two wavy, broad, black, longitudinal stripes run from the front to the rear edge of the pronotum. Scutellum is black, sometimes with a small red spot at the end. [3][4] The nymphs are bright red.
These bugs have two dorsolateral prothoracic glands capable of secreting substances repugnant to predators.
Biology
These polyphagous bugs feed on flowers and seeds of many plants. They preferentially fed on the plants of the family Asclepiadaceae. In Europe, they are present on other various toxic plants such as jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) and oleander (Nerium oleander).
They can cause serious damage to the crops of Sesamum indicum (Pedaliaceae) and to Calotropis gigantea and Calotropis procera (Apocynaceae). It can also attack sorghum crops (Sorghum bicolor), Eleusine coracana, Pennisetum americanum, Phaseolus mungo, Arachis hypogaea, Lycopersicum esculentum, tobacco, sunflowers etc. [5]
References
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Wikispecies has information related to: Spilostethus pandurus |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spilostethus pandurus. |
- ↑ Biolib
- ↑ Fauna europaea
- ↑ Keys atLes insectes (in French)
- ↑ Natura Mediterraneo(in Italian)
- ↑ Carl Walter Schaefer, Antonio Ricardo Panizzi, Heteroptera of economic importance, CRC Press, 2000