Lygaeidae

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Family of true bugs

title: "Lygaeidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lygaeidae", "heteroptera-families"] description: "Family of true bugs" topic_path: "general/lygaeidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lygaeidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of true bugs ::

| image = Biologia Centrali-Americana - Acroleucus brevicollis.jpg | image_caption = Acroleucus brevicollis | taxon = Lygaeidae | authority = Schilling, 1829 | display_parents = 3 | diversity_link = List of Lygaeidae genera | diversity = at least 110 genera

The Lygaeidae are a family in the Hemiptera (true bugs), with more than 110 genera in four subfamilies. The family is commonly referred to as seed bugs, and less commonly, milkweed bugs, or ground bugs. Many species feed on seeds, some on sap or seed pods, others are omnivores and a few, such as the wekiu bug, are insectivores. Insects in this family are distributed across the world.

The family was vastly larger, but numerous former subfamilies have been removed and given independent family status, including the Artheneidae, Blissidae, Cryptorhamphidae, Cymidae, Geocoridae, Heterogastridae, Ninidae, Oxycarenidae and Rhyparochromidae, which together constituted well over half of the former family.

The bizarre and mysterious beetle-like Psamminae were formerly often placed in the Piesmatidae, but this is almost certainly incorrect. Their true affiliations are not entirely resolved.

Distinguishing characteristics

Lygaeidae are oval or elongate in body shape and have four-segmented antennae. Lygaeidae can be distinguished from Miridae (plant bugs) by the presence of ocelli, or simple eyes. They are distinguished from Coreidae (squash bugs) by the number of veins in the membrane of the front wings, as Lygaeidae have only four or five veins.

Subfamilies and selected genera

An incomplete list of Lygaeidae genera is subdivided as: ;subfamily Ischnorhynchinae Stål, 1872

The Pachygronthinae Stål, 1865 (type genus Pachygrontha Germar, 1840) may be placed here or elevated to the family Pachygronthidae.

Gallery

File:Lygaeus turcicus.9.17.08w.jpg|False milkweed bug, Lygaeus turcicus, on Asteraceae flower File:Small Milkweed Bugs.jpg|Small milkweed bug, Lygaeus kalmii), nymph (bottom) and mature (top) File:Milkweed bug on a butterfly weed.jpg|Large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, on a butterfly weed File:Oncopeltus varicolor ssp. stalii.jpg|Oncopeltus varicolor ssp. stalii File:Milkweed bug drilling.webm|thumbtime=2|Large milkweed bug nymph feeding on milkweed before extracting its stylet, sheathing it again in its rostrum

References

References

  1. (27 August 2021). "2 - Arthropod pests of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)". Field Crop Arthropod Pests of Economic Importance.
  2. (1 January 2017). "Omnivory – A Flexible Feeding Strategy". Reference Module in Life Sciences.
  3. (December 2010). "Life history and captive rearing of the Wekiu bug (Nysius wekiuicola, Lygaeidae), an alpine carnivore endemic to the Mauna Kea volcano of Hawaii". Journal of Insect Conservation.
  4. "Family Lygaeidae - Seed Bugs".
  5. David A. Grimaldi & Michael S. Engel. (2007). "An unusual, primitive Piesmatidae (Insecta: Heteroptera) in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma)". [[American Museum Novitates]].
  6. (1995). "A catalogue of the Lygaeidae of the world (1960-1994)". New York Entomological Society.
  7. "Family Lygaeidae".
  8. [https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id17113/ BioLb.cz]: family ground bugs: Lygaeidae Schilling, 1829 (retrieved 26 October 2021)

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lygaeidaeheteroptera-families