Scutelleridae

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Family of insects

title: "Scutelleridae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["scutelleridae", "agricultural-pest-insects", "heteroptera-families", "shield-bugs", "taxa-named-by-william-elford-leach"] description: "Family of insects" topic_path: "general/scutelleridae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutelleridae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of insects ::

| name = Jewel bugs | image = Metallic_shield_bug444.jpg | image_alt =The shield bug, Scutiphora pedicellata, on a leaf. | image_caption =Scutiphora pedicellata, a jewel bug from Australia | display_parents=4 | taxon =Scutelleridae | authority =Leach, 1815 | subdivision_ranks =Subfamilies | subdivision =

Scutelleridae is a family of true bugs. They are commonly known as jewel (stink) bugs or metallic shield bugs due to their often brilliant coloration. With the name based on the Asian genus Scutellera, they are also known as shield-backed bugs due to the enlargement of the thoracic scutellum into a continuous shield over the abdomen and wings. This latter characteristic distinguishes them from most other families within Heteroptera, and may lead to misidentification as a beetle rather than a bug. These insects use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on plant juices from a variety of different species, including some commercial crops. Closely related to stink bugs, they may also produce an offensive odour when disturbed. There are around 450 species worldwide.

Description

Jewel bugs are small to medium-sized oval-shaped bugs with a body length averaging at 5 to. They can easily be distinguished from stink bugs (Pentatomidae) because the shield-like enlarged last section of their thorax (known as the scutellum, Latin for "little shield") completely covers the abdomen and the wings.

Despite their resemblance to beetles, jewel bugs are hemipterans or true bugs. The scutellum is an extension of the thorax, unlike the elytra of beetles which are hardened forewings. As such, jewel bugs have four membranous wings underneath the scutellum in contrast to two in beetles. The scutellum in jewel bugs also does not have a division in the middle and thus does not 'split open' when they take flight like in beetles.

The heads of jewel bugs are triangular and the antennae have three to five segments. Like all heteropterans, jewel bugs are characterized by a segmented beak-like mouthpart (known as the rostrum). During feeding, jewel bugs inject proteolytic enzymes in their saliva into plants, digesting plant matter into a liquid form which they then suck up. The tarsus has three segments (tarsomeres).

File:Calliphara exellens (Burmeister, 1834).jpg|Calliphara excellens from Japan. File:Chrysocoris macrogiants A.jpg|Jewel bug in Mumbai File:Chrysocoris macrogiants C.jpg|Jewel bug in Mumbai File:Jewel Bug-Chennai.jpg|Jewel bug spotted tucked away in the canopy at Chennai File:Shield-backed bug (Graptocoris aulicus) nymph.jpg|Shield-backed bug (Graptocoris aulicus) nymph, Uganda File:Chrysocoris, Hebbal, Bangalore, India - 20060806.jpg|alt=Chrysocoris sp. from India, perched on some leaves.|Chrysocoris sp., an iridescent green jewel bug from India. File:Giant jewel bug (Eucorysses grandis).jpg|alt=Eucorysses grandis from Japan, crawling up on a wall.|A brilliant orange, red, and black giant jewel stink bug Eucorysses grandis, from Japan. The pattern and coloration of this species can often vary from pale cream to deep red. File:ミヤコキンカメムシ Lampromicra miyakona 西表島 2018-11-24.jpg|Lampromicra miyakona from Japan.

Colours

Though some species are quite drab, the most conspicuous jewel bugs are often brilliantly colored, exhibiting a wide range of iridescent metallic hues that change with the view angle. The colors are the result of a combination of factors. Some species like Chrysocoris stockerus and Scutellera nobilis display colors from multiple thin layers of pigmented chitin. The colors often change or become duller when the specimens are dried, due to the topmost chitinous layer becoming opaque and obscuring the colors of the bottom layer. The colors can be restored by moistening the surface with water.

Iridescence (or goniochromism) in jewel bugs like Poecilocoris lewisi are the result of structural coloration. Instead of pigments, the colors are caused by the interference, diffraction, or scattering of light by numerous tiny structures.

In Poecilocoris lewisi, multiple tiny conical protuberances around 900 nm in height and averaging at a diameter of 360 nm are scattered on the epicuticle. These structures affect light passing through them, producing their oily-looking blue sheen (known as the Tyndall effect or Mie scattering).

In other species like the African shield bug (Calidea panaethiopica), the dorsal cuticle is dotted with tiny regularly spaced hemispherical cavities. The depressions act like Bragg mirrors. When light hits the pitted surface, it gives off multiple reflections resulting in the distinctive two tone yellow-blue iridescence.

The colors and patterns on jewel bugs can vary significantly between instars and even within adults of a species.{{cite journal |author=Luis Cervantes Peredo|year=2002|title=Description, Biology, and Maternal Care of Pachycoris klugii (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae)|journal=Florida Entomologist|volume=85|issue=3|pages=464–473|publisher=Instituto de Ecologia, Florida Center for Library Automation|url=http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe85p464.pdf|access-date= April 27, 2011|doi=10.1653/0015-4040(2002)085[0464:dbamco]2.0.co;2|doi-access=free}}

Jewel bugs are also known to mimic the colors, patterns, and shape of other organisms for defensive purposes. An example is the yellow-spotted black Steganocerus multipunctatus which exhibits Müllerian mimicry with the tortoise beetle Chiridopsis suffriani.

Ecology and life cycle

All jewel bugs feed on plants (phytophagous). The eggs are laid in compact clusters. They may be round or barrel-shaped with a lid or a cap at the top (known as the operculum). They also contain a ring of small protuberances near the cap called micropylar processes. They permit the passage of sperm into the egg for fertilization and enable gaseous exchange from within the egg and the outside world for the embryos. The eggs are white or cream colored when freshly laid but can change color as the embryo matures. When hatching, the prolarva (the advanced embryo) exit the egg by opening the lid through peristaltic movements and with the help of a T-shaped internal structure in the egg (known as the egg burster).

Like all hemipterans, jewel bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis (hemimetaboly) and do not possess larval and pupal stages. Instead the adults develop from several stages of nymphs through successive moltings. Nymphs resemble the adults except for size and the absence of wings. They can be of different coloration or patterns from adults.

Some species are known to exhibit parental care of eggs and nymphs. Notable examples of which are Cantao parentum, Pachycoris klugii, Pachycoris stalii, Pachycoris torridus, and Tectocoris diophthalmus.

File:アカギカメムシ 卵の保護 大和村 奄美大島.jpg|A female of Cantao ocellatus protecting a cluster of eggs. File:Koa bug eggs.jpg|alt=A cluster of empty barrel shaped eggs on a leaf.|A cluster of the empty barrel-shaped eggs of the Koa bug (Coleotichus blackburniae) from Hawaii. The 'lids' can clearly be seen. File:Pachycoris torridus 003.jpg|alt=A jewel bug emerging from its old exoskeleton while two nymphs look on in the foreground.|A jewel bug molting (ecdysis). The pale-colored adult is emerging from its old exoskeleton, in the foreground are two nymphs. File:Scutelleridae cropped 2.jpg|A jewel bug from the Philippines feeding on Jatropha. File:ラデンキンカメムシｰアカギの葉に群れる。奄美大島.jpg|Scutellera amethystina, congregating on* Bischofia javanica.* File:ナナホシキンカメムシ Calliphara excellens 交尾 沖縄島 2017-5-06.jpg|*Calliphara excellens *copulating.

Reproduction

Chemical secretions from dorsal abdominal or sternal exocrine glands are used to attract mates by certain species of jewel bugs. In certain genera (like Tectocoris, Psacasta, Odontoscelis, and Irochrotus), males possess special unicellular glands in the abdomen known as the androconia. They release sex pheromones when ruptured.

Females possess a spermatheca, an ectodermal gland which opens into the oviduct. These serve as storage for sperm deposited by males. It contains glands which can nourish the spermatozoa until they can be released to fertilize eggs.

Male jewel bugs of the genus Hotea possess an unusually large, spiky, and heavily sclerotized genitalia. They are used in a mating practice known as traumatic insemination, a result of evolutionary sexual conflict. Male Hotea bugs tear through the female reproductive ducts to deposit sperm, inflicting substantial damage to the female in the process.

Defenses

Like stink bugs, a vast majority of jewel bugs, both adults and nymphs, are also capable of releasing pungent defensive chemicals from glands located on the sides of the thorax. Typical compounds exuded by jewel bugs include alcohols, aldehydes, and esters.

Nymphs and adults often exhibit clustering behavior, being found in large numbers close to each other. This behavior is thought to have an evolutionary advantage. The more individuals present in an area, the stronger the odor of the chemicals released when the bugs are threatened. If this fails, jewel bugs will react to threat by flying away or dropping to the ground.

Classification and evolution

Scutellerids were first described by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. It belongs to the order Hemiptera (true bugs), under the suborder Heteroptera and infraorder Pentatomomorpha. They are classified under the superfamily Pentatomoidea. They were formerly classified as a subfamily of Pentatomidae by George Willis Kirkaldy in 1909. The earliest attempt to restore them to family status was in 1917 by Edward Payson Van Duzee. Most authorities today regard it as a valid family group. In phylogenetic studies in 2008 by Grazia et al., Scutelleridae was shown to be consistently monophyletic, basal to Acanthosomatidae, and distal to Plataspididae and Parastrachiidae. Below is the morphological unweighted tree of the superfamily Pentatomoidea after Grazia et al. (2008). |label1=← |1={{Clade |label1= |1=Urostylididae |label2= |2={{Clade |label1= |1=Saileriolidae |label2= |2={{Clade |label1= |1=Acanthosomatidae |label2= |2={{Clade |label1= |1={{Clade |label1= |1=Tessaratomidae|state1=dashed |label2= |2=Dinidoridae|state2=dashed |label3=Cydnidaesensu lato |3={{Clade |label1= |1=Cydnidae |label2= |2=Thaumastellidae |label3= |3=Parastrachiinae |label4= |4={{Clade |label1= |1=Thyreocoridae |label2= |2=Lestoniidae |label3= |3=Phloeidae |label4= |4={{Clade |label1= |1=Scutelleridae |label2= |2=Plataspididae |label5= |5=Pentatomidae |label6= |6=Canopidae |label7= |7=Megarididae

Subfamilies and genera

The family is composed of about 81 genera and around 450 species worldwide. While the tribal and subfamilial classifications remain unclear, they are divided into eight subfamilies sensu lato: Elvisurinae, Eurygastrinae, Hoteinae (sometimes classified under Pachycorinae), Odontoscelinae, Odontotarsinae, Pachycorinae, Scutellerinae, and Tectocorinae.

Elvisurinae

Auth.: Stål, 1872. Widespread distribution, with the type genus Elvisura found in southern Africa; only one species of Elvisurinae, Solenosthedium bilunatum, is found in Europe.

  1. Austrotichus - monotypic A. rugosus
  2. Coleotichus
  3. Elvisura
  4. Solenosthedium
  5. Solenotichus

Eurygastrinae

Auth.: Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 ;Tribe Eurygastrini Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

  1. Eurygaster
  2. Polyphyma ;Tribe Psacastini Mulsant & Rey, 1865
  3. Ceratocranum
  4. Periphima
  5. Periphymopsis
  6. Promecocoris
  7. Psacasta
  8. Xerobia

Hoteinae

Auth.: Carapezza, 2008

  1. Deroplax
  2. Ellipsocoris
  3. Hotea

Odontoscelinae

Auth.: Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843; mostly European

  1. Holonotellus
  2. Irochrotus
  3. Odontoscelis

Odontotarsinae

Auth.: Mulsant & Rey, 1865 ;Tribe Odontotarsini Mulsant & Rey, 1865

  1. Ahmadocoris
  2. Alphocoris
  3. Melanodema
  4. Odontotarsiellus
  5. Odontotarsus
  6. Urothyreus ;Tribe Phimoderini Fuente, 1974
  7. Euptychodera
  8. Fokkeria
  9. Morbora
  10. Phimodera
  11. Vanduzeeina

Pachycorinae

Auth.: Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

  1. Acantholomidea
  2. Agonosoma
  3. Ascanius (bug)
  4. Brailovskylus
  5. Camirus
  6. Chelycoris
  7. Chelyschema
  8. Coptochilus
  9. Crathis (bug)
  10. Diolcus
  11. Dystus
  12. Ephynes
  13. Galeacius
  14. Homaemus
  15. Lobothyreus
  16. Misippus
  17. Nesogenes
  18. Orsilochides
  19. Pachycoris
  20. Polytes
  21. Sphyrocoris
  22. Stethaulax
  23. Symphylus
  24. Testrina
  25. Tetyra
  26. Tiridates (bug)

[[Scutellerinae]]

Auth.: Leach, 1815. Selected genera:

Economic significance

| align = right | direction = horizontal | width1 = 180 | image1 =Eurygaster-cf-testudinaria-13-VII-2007-478.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 =Odontotarsus grammicus.jpg | width2 = 180 | alt2 = | caption2 = | image3 =Cotton Harlequin Bugs.jpg | alt3 = | width3 = 169 | caption3 = | footer =Left: Eurygaster testudinaria, a sunn pest from Germany. Center: Odontotarsus grammicus, another sunn pest from Spain. Right: An adult and nymph cotton harlequin bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus). | footer_align = left Though most jewel bugs do little harm to crop plants, a few members of Scutelleridae are considered major agricultural pests. Some of the most economically impactful species are members of the genus Eurygaster. Together with some species of stink bugs, they are collectively known as sunn pests or wheat bugs.

Eurygaster integriceps, in particular, is a very destructive pest of cereal crops in North Africa, the Balkans, and western and central Asia. Other scutellerids known under the name 'sunn pest' include members of the genus Odontotarsus, among others. Methods of control for sunn pests have included biological pest control, using wasps of the family Scelionidae from the genera Trissolcus and Ooencyrtus.

The cotton harlequin bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus) is also an important pest of cotton crops and Hibiscus.

Conservation

Biological methods of pest control have sometimes backfired. A parasitoid fly which preys on hemipterans, Trichopoda pennipes was introduced to Hawaii to control the invasive species Nezara viridula, the southern green stink bug. The fly now threatens native species of bugs in Hawaii as well, particularly the Koa bug (Coleotichus blackburniae, a jewel bug species notable for not possessing stink glands) which has now become rare.

Gallery

File:Molting Jewel Bug 01.jpg|Molting (moulting) jewel bug (1) File:Molting Jewel Bug 02.jpg|Molting (moulting) jewel bug (2) File:Molting Jewel Bug 03.jpg|Molting (moulting) jewel bug (3) File:Molting Jewel Bug 04.jpg|Molting (moulting) jewel bug (4)

References

References

  1. "Scutelleridae - Jewel Bugs". Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Entomology.
  2. John L. Capinera. (2008). "Encyclopedia of entomology". Springer.
  3. (2009). "Insect biodiversity: science and society". John Wiley and Sons.
  4. (September 2023). ["Field guide to insects of South Africa"](https://books.google.com/books?id=s4ke5JwbTI0C}}{{Dead link). Struik.
  5. {{NCBI taxid. 468258. Scutelleridae
  6. "Jewel bugs, Shield Backed Bugs -Family Scutelleridae". Brisbane Insects and Spiders Home Page.
  7. (2008). "Investigations on the occurrence of wheat bugs (Scutelleridae, Pentatomidae; Heteroptera) in organic farming of Eastern Austria". 1st Scientific Conference within the framework of the 8th European Summer Academy on Organic Farming.
  8. "Mechanisms and Functions of Colour in the Hibiscus Harlequin Bug". The Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
  9. (1995). "True bugs of the world (Hemiptera:Heteroptera): classification and natural history". Cornell University Press.
  10. Shūichi Kinoshita. (2008). "Structural colors in the realm of nature". World Scientific.
  11. [[Jean-Pol Vigneron]], Moussa Ouedraogo, Jean-François Colomer, and Marie Rassart. (200). "Spectral sideband produced by a hemispherical concave multilayer on the African shield-bug ''Calidea panaethiopica'' (Scutelleridae)". American Physical Society.
  12. Hugh D.C. Heron. (2009). "Polymorphism in four tortoise beetles from Queensburgh, South Africa (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae)". University of Wrocław.
  13. (1970). "The international wildlife encyclopedia". Marshall Cavendish.
  14. (2005). "Ultrastructure of the Eggs Chorion of ''Ceraleptus obtusus'' (Brulle, 1839)(Heteroptera: Coreidae)". The Knowledge Bank, Ohio State University.
  15. (2008). "Morphology of eggs and spermatheca of Odontotarsus purpureolineatus (Heteroptera, Scutelleridae)". Springer.
  16. "Scutelleridae: Shield-backed Bugs". [[Save Our Waterways Now]].
  17. James T. Costa. (2006). "The other insect societies". Harvard University Press.
  18. Livy Williams III, Maria C Coscarón, Pablo M Dellapé, and Timberley M Roane. (2005). "The shield-backed bug, Pachycoris stallii: Description of immature stages, effect of maternal care on nymphs, and notes on life history". University of Wisconsin Libraries.
  19. David A. Rider. "Pentatomoid Species Known to Exhibit Parental Care". Department of Entomology, North Dakota State University.
  20. (1995). "Chemical ecology of insects 2". Springer.
  21. (2005). "Sexual conflict". Princeton University Press.
  22. "Family Scutelleridae - Shield-backed Bugs". BugGuide.
  23. Stefan Schulz. (2005). "The chemistry of pheromones and other semiochemicals". Springer.
  24. {{ITIS
  25. {{EOL. 636. Scutelleridae Leach, 1815
  26. G. Cassis, Australia. Bureau of Flora and Fauna, & Gordon F. Gross. (2002). "Zoological catalogue of Australia: Hemiptera: Heteroptera (Pentatomomorpha)". CSIRO Publishing.
  27. (2008). "Phylogenetic relationships of family groups in Pentatomoidea based on morphology and DNA sequences (Insecta: Heteroptera)". Wiley-Blackwell.
  28. Dimitri Forero. (March 13, 2009). "Pentatomoidea". [[Tree of Life Web Project]].
  29. [https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id17122/ Biolib]: family of shield-backed bugs, Scutelleridae Leach, 1815 (retrieved 10 February 2024)
  30. David A. Rider. "Classification". Department of Entomology, North Dakota State University.
  31. (March 2020). "''Solenosthedium bilunatum'' (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae) at the Adriatic Coast of Croatia". Entomologie heute 31 (2019): 25-29.
  32. Murray Fletcher. (2007). "Plant bugs". NSW Department of Primary Industries.
  33. (2001). "Heteroptera of Economic Importance". CRC Press.
  34. (1995). "True bugs of the world (Hemiptera:Heteroptera): classification and natural history". Cornell University Press.
  35. Peter T. Bailey. (2007). "Pests of field crops and pastures: identification and control". CSIRO Publishing.
  36. Roy Van Driesche, Mark Hoddle & Ted Center. (2008). "Control of pests and weeds by natural enemies: an introduction to biological control". John Wiley and Sons.

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scutelleridaeagricultural-pest-insectsheteroptera-familiesshield-bugstaxa-named-by-william-elford-leach