| Alydus eurinus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Heteroptera |
| Family: | Alydidae |
| Genus: | Alydus |
| Species: | A. eurinus |
| Binomial name | |
| Alydus eurinus (Say, 1825) | |
Alydus eurinus is a species of broad-headed bug in the family Alydidae. It is found in North America. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Alydus eurinus is mostly dark in color with lighter markings sometimes observed on the legs and abdomen. However, coloring on the side of the head is absent. Fine hairs cover the body. The corners of the posterior pronotum plate are rounded, while in a similar species, Alydus pilosulus, the corners are more angular. [5] Their wings are dark in color and possess many longitudinal veins, which distinguish them from the morphologically similar family, Lygaeidae. [6]
Alydus uses ridges, or stridulitrum, on the forewing and nodes, or plectrum, on the femur to produce stridulation. These structures are present on both sexes. The stridulitrum consists of a series of equidistant ridges which are the longest at the midsection of the corium. The plectrum consists of nodes found on the legs which are a project of bone or stiff tissue which are along and across the femur. The sound which is produced is theorized to be of low intensity due to the small size of the plectrum's nodes and to be an assortment of notes rather than one. [7]
Alydus eurinus feeds mostly on legumes but can be found on flowering plants, such as goldenrod, later in the season. [6] They are also known to feed on carrion, such as a dead toad. [8]
The primary defense is mimicry. As nymphs, they resemble flightless ants. As adults, they resemble spider wasps. [9] [6] Unlike ants and wasps, Alydus eurinus has mouthparts typical of the Hemipteran, in which the mandibles and maxillae have been modified to form a stomatostyle.
They also have a secondary chemical defense. The defensive chemical mix of butyric and hexanoic acids is released from their metathoracic scent glands. [9] Nymphs and adults possess defensive chemicals, but the Nymph's chemical mix is much weaker than the chemicals the adults produce. [6]
These two subspecies belong to the species Alydus eurinus:
Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mechanism is typically that of one structure with a well-defined lip, ridge, or nodules being moved across a finely-ridged surface or vice versa, and vibrating as it does so, like the dragging of a phonograph needle across a vinyl record. Sometimes it is the structure bearing the file which resonates to produce the sound, but in other cases it is the structure bearing the scraper, with both variants possible in related groups. Common onomatopoeic words for the sounds produced by stridulation include chirp and chirrup.
The Pentatomoidea are a superfamily of insects in the suborder Heteroptera of the order Hemiptera. As hemipterans, they possess a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. The roughly 7000 species under Pentatomoidea are divided into 21 families. Among these are the stink bugs and shield bugs, jewel bugs, giant shield bugs, and burrower bugs.
Coreidae is a large family of predominantly sap-sucking insects in the Hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. The name "Coreidae" derives from the genus Coreus, which derives from the Ancient Greek κόρις (kóris) meaning bedbug.
Treehoppers and thorn bugs are members of the family Membracidae, a group of insects related to the cicadas and the leafhoppers. About 3,200 species of treehoppers in over 400 genera are known. They are found on all continents except Antarctica; only five species are known from Europe. Individual treehoppers usually live for only a few months.
Alydidae, commonly known as broad-headed bugs, is a family of true bugs very similar to the closely related Coreidae. There are at least 60 genera and 300 species altogether. Distributed in the temperate and warmer regions of the Earth, most are tropical and subtropical animals; for example Europe has a mere 10 species, and only 2 of these occur outside the Mediterranean region.
Coreus marginatus is a herbivorous species of true bug in the family Coreidae. It is commonly known as the dock bug as it feeds on the leaves and seeds of docks and sorrels. It is a medium-sized speckled brown insect, between 13 and 15 mm long as an adult, with a broad abdomen. It occurs throughout Europe, Asia and northern Africa. It is often found in dense vegetation, such as hedgerows and wasteland.
Physomerus grossipes, the sweetpotato bug or large spine-footed bug, is a species of Hemiptera in the family Coreidae. Native to Southeast Asia, the species has immigrated to the Pacific Islands. Frequently laying its eggs on the same Leguminosae and Convolvulaceae plants on which it feeds, the females of P. grossipes are very protective of their young, notably guarding both eggs and nymphs from predators.
Gargaphia solani is a subsocial species of lace bug commonly known as the eggplant lace bug. The species was described by Heidemann in 1914 after it aroused attention a year earlier in the United States as an eggplant pest around Norfolk, Virginia. Fink found that the species became an agricultural pest when eggplant is planted on a large scale.
Calliphara nobilis is a species of jewel bug found in Asia. Like all species of jewel bugs, it is phytophagous, feeding on the leaves, fruit and seeds of its host plants. This insect is notable for its multiple defense mechanisms: it is highly mobile and swarms disperse with a loud buzz when disturbed; it is aposematically colored, which serves as a warning to any would-be predators that it is unpalatable; and it possesses a robust chemical defense mechanism: it can secrete an irritating and toxic fluid from a pair of metathoracic scent glands when threatened.
Tessaratomidae is a family of true bugs. It contains about 240 species of large bugs divided into 3 subfamilies and 56 genera.
Alydus calcaratus is a bug species with a Holarctic distribution ranging from the British Isles almost all over Europe to eastern Siberia and China. Moreover, the species also in northern North America from Alaska and Québec across the United States to Wyoming. It is the only species in the family in northern Central Europe outside of the Alps.
Carlisis wahlbergi aka the Gardenia twig wilter is a Central and Southern African species of Coreidae in the order Hemiptera. The species was first described by Carl Stål, the Swedish authority on Hemiptera, and based on a specimen collected by the Swedish naturalist Johan August Wahlberg at Lake Ngami in Bechuanaland.
Alydus is the type genus of broad-headed bugs in the family Alydidae. There are about 11 described species in Alydus, including 2 extinct species. Species are recorded from North America and Europe through to temperate Asia.
Acanthocephala terminalis is a species of leaf-footed bug in the family Coreidae. It is found in North America.
Neomegalotomus rufipes is a species of broad-headed bug in the family Alydidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, North America, and the Caribbean.
Neomegalotomus is a genus of broad-headed bugs in the family Alydidae. There are at least two described species in Neomegalotomus.
Harmostes reflexulus is a species of scentless plant bug in the family Rhopalidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, Central America, North America, and South America.
Stachyocnemus is a genus of broad-headed bugs in the family Alydidae. There is one described species in Stachyocnemus, S. apicalis.
Camptopus lateralis, common name broad-headed bug, is a species of true bugs of the family Alydidae, subfamily Alydinae.
The giant mesquite bug is an insect of the order Hemiptera, or the "true bugs". As a member of the family Coreidae, it is a leaf-footed bug. As the common name implies, it is a large bug that feeds on mesquite trees of the American Southwest and Northwestern Mexico.
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