southern green stink bug nymph

Description:

Adults are approximately a centimeter long, bright green and shield-shaped. It is a highly polyphagous herbivore, able to feed on plants from over 30 families, both monocots and dicots. It has a preference for legumes, preferring to feed on plants that are fruiting or forming pods. Nezara viridula reproduces throughout the year in tropics, and except for the winter time, in temperate zones as well. The female lays 30 to 130 eggs at a time, in the form of an egg mass glued firmly to the bottom of a leaf. The eggs are barrel-shaped, with an opening on the top. The eggs take between 5 and 21 days to develop, depending on the temperature. The newborn larvae gather near the empty eggs and do not feed until three days later, after the first moult. They moult five times before reaching maturity, increasing in size each time. Each instar stage lasts about a week, except for the last one before the metamorphosis, which is a day longer. Up to four generations can develop in one year, with eggs developing into adults in as few as 35 days in mid-summer. Up until their third moult the larvae aggregate together on the host plant, the purpose of this aggregation is probably pooling of chemical defenses against predators, for example ants.

Habitat:

Nezara viridula is a cosmopolitan species, living in tropical and subtropical regions of Americas, Africa, Asia, Australasia and Europe between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south