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Calidea dregii
this brilliantly coloured shield bug is about 14mm long, the green / blue of the back has a metallic, iridescent sheen which changed the hue with changing direction to the light, some individuals have more iridescent yellow around the big dark spots on their back than the bugs photographed here.
cattle ranch in semi-arid bushveld region. The bugs were quite numerous in a weedy patch of Phyllanthus in an open area between bushes and by a track
Spotted on Mar 8, 2013
Submitted on Mar 24, 2013
8 Comments
Great macro!
Thank you for this detailed information :)
these bugs have a pretty widespread distribution and can sometimes be a pest of cotton crops; they're are also reported to breed on a variety of other crops such as sunflower, tobacco and sorghum. I've personally only seen them twice in the last 20 years and each time concentrated on a limited area feeding on wild species from the family Euphorbiaceae. They feed on the young seeds which they pierce with with there mouth parts and this causes distortion of seed heads and loss of seeds from the plants
Beautiful!
Wow wow I think this may be my favorite bug, is it really that often there? I mean, can see on the last photo that there are plenty of them? What are they feeding on?
thanks Debbie, thanks letermagog, it certainly is a beautiful bug which ever way you look at it.
From all angles a most beautifully coloured bug. Great series!
Lovely series and an extremely colourful bug. I especially like photo 5