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Graphosoma lineatum italicum
Love was in the air for this pair of Italian Striped-Bugs, but competition was lurking in the background! The upperside of the body of these bugs is bright red, with wide black longitudinal stripes. The pronotum has six black bands, while the sides of the abdomen show black spots. The legs are mostly black in the subspecies italicum seen here, with the exception of the third tibia as seen on the second shot.
Sunny meadow, rural.
G. lineatum italicum is found across most of Europe. These bugs are often seen on the flowers of Apiaceae such as the wild carrot (Daucus carota) seen here.Their bold red and black colours indicate that they are foul-tasting (aposematism).
Spotted on Aug 18, 2013
Submitted on Feb 14, 2014
![[Graphosoma semipunctatum]](https://lh3.ggpht.com/N5NkOgwODo7NFtnNBJxSLl8KaWyzyCMXEl3QaVEc9DnDShPEf4YDvZCA4Ot_3KynVrTy_lwPXEE3CWNqASFV=s62-c)
![[Graphosoma lineatum]](https://lh5.ggpht.com/CICFKMultezx_b3Bpl85yvEzkdxW9_HsDKPzBo6zBQmbU-1lmkHtkVuLDOuFoh_aQlTdjvQjXTxT-H-9M0DZ=s62-c)
5 Comments
Thank you Satyen!
Beautiful!
lovely beetles :)
Indeed rams4d! These bugs wear their common name well: they're actually wearing the colours on the A.C. Milan football club :-)
Awsome stripes !!!