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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Cimicomorpha » Miroidea » Plant Bugs (Miridae) » Mirinae » Stenodemini » Leptopterna » Meadow Plant Bug (Leptopterna dolabrata)

Species Leptopterna dolabrata - Meadow Plant Bug

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Works Cited

Meadow Plant Bug - Leptopterna dolabrata - male

Stilt or Seed Bug - Leptopterna dolabrata

Meadow Plant Bug nymph? - Leptopterna dolabrata

Meadow Plant Bug - Leptopterna dolabrata

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)

Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)

Infraorder Cimicomorpha

Superfamily Miroidea

Family Miridae (Plant Bugs)

Subfamily Mirinae

Tribe Stenodemini

Genus Leptopterna

Species dolabrata (Meadow Plant Bug)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Leptopterna dolabrata (Linnaeus)

Orig. Comb: Cimex dolabratus Linnaeus, 1758

Syn: Miris dolabratus (Linnaeus)

Numbers

3 Nearctic spp. (1)

Size

7-10 mm

Identification

Stiff black setae on A1 with at least some longer and more erect than rest; A1 ~ (head width); female with A2 much thinner than front tibiae (2)

Range

widely dist. in NA, but less common across s. US (NM-GA-NS-BC) (1)

native to Europe, adventive in NA (first record: MA 1832)(3)(4)

Habitat

fields, meadows

Season

Apr-July (BG data)

Food

Mainly grasses; vetch and cranberry also reported as hosts

Will switch host grass from one generation to the next depending on nitrogen availability.(5)

Works Cited

1.	Catalog of the Heteroptera, or True Bugs of Canada and the Continental United States Thomas J. Henry, Richard C. Froeschner. 1988. Brill Academic Publishers.

2.	The genus Leptopterna Fieber (Heteroptera:Miridae: Stenodemini) in North America G.G.E. Scudder and Michael D. Schwartz. 2001. Entomological Society of Washington.

3.	Schuh, R.T. 2002-2013. On-line Systematic Catalog of Plant Bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae).

4.	A Synthesis of the Holarctic Miridae (Heteroptera): Distribution, Biology, and Origin, with Emphasis on North America A. G., Jr. Wheeler & Thomas J. Henry. 1992. Entomological Society of America.

5.	Insect Ecology: Behavior, Populations and Communities P. W. Price, R. F. Denno, M. D. Eubanks. 2011. Cambridge University Press.

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 27 March, 2005 - 7:32pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Mike Quinn, v belov, onegunah, Marci Hess
Last updated 30 August, 2023 - 8:04am

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