Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Stenotus binotatus - Two-spotted Grass Bug

Plant bug - Stenotus binotatus plant bug - Stenotus binotatus Plant Bug - Stenotus binotatus Plant Bug (Stenotus binotatus) - Stenotus binotatus Plant Bug - Stenotus binotatus plant bug - Stenotus binotatus - female Plant Bug - Stenotus binotatus Beetle? - Stenotus binotatus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)
Family Miridae (Plant Bugs)
Subfamily Mirinae
Tribe Mirini
Genus Stenotus
Species binotatus (Two-spotted Grass Bug)
Numbers
the only species in this genus in North America; common
Size
body length 6 - 7.5 mm
Identification
overall light greenish or yellowish; front of head black, top of head green; pronotum with two large black spots shaped like elongated semicircles with a straight edge anteriorly; each hemelytron with two oblique black streaks, the more distal streak extending to inner angle of cuneus; scutellum unmarked, bordered laterally by black, and usually brighter than pronotum or hemelytra; cuneus unmarked; membranous tips of hemelytra blackish, giving the bug a "black-tailed" appearance
Range
holarctic
Habitat
fields, meadows
Season
adults usually in June
See Also
Ilnacora malina is similar but has the following differences: overall deep green color, top of head with roundish large black shield, pronotum yellowish anteriorly, black spots on pronotum round (not elongated with a straight anterior edge), scutellum with black spot in middle near base, and the more distal of the two black streaks on each hemelytron runs parallel to the costa (not obliquely to the inner angle of the cuneus) - see Tom Murray's photo
Internet References
pinned adult images (Alan Hadley, United Kingdom)
pinned adult image (Insects of Cedar Creek, Minnesota)
live adult image (David Jones, United Kingdom)
live adult image (Sabine Jelinek, Germany)
live adult image (Ingrid Altmann, Germany)
body length reference; PDF doc [English scientific names, Arabic numerals, Russian text] (A. Lagunov, Russia)
original description of Ilnacora malina; PDF doc on pages 8 & 9, under the name Sthenarops malina (P.R. Uhler. 1877. courtesy of American Museum of Natural History)