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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 » Mirini » Lygus Bugs (Lygus) » Tarnished Plant Bug (Lygus lineolaris)

Species Lygus lineolaris - Tarnished Plant Bug

Classification · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Male, Lygus lineolaris? - Lygus lineolaris - male

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 Mirini

Genus Lygus (Lygus Bugs)

Species lineolaris (Tarnished Plant Bug)

Explanation of Names

Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois 1818)

Size

♂ 3.7‒4.6 mm, ♀ 3.8‒5.0 mm(1)

Identification

pale "Y" on scutellum is the most notable feature

Frons with submedian stripes (vittae) (only 4 species including rufidorsus, plagiatus and unctuosus have submedian stripes);

Long, dense hairs (distinguished from rufidorsus);

Hemelytra without patch hairs (distinguished from plagiatus); and

Red or yellow lateral margins of the mesoscutum) (distinguished from unctuosus)

Nymph(1)

Frons with submedian stripes (vittae) (only 4 species including rufidorsus, plagiatus and unctuosus have submedian stripes); and

Extensively reddish dark markings (in plagiatus and unctuosus mostly dark brown/black)

Range

throughout NA - Map (2)(3), less common out west

Habitat

mostly fields, gardens, and meadows but also present in the leaf litter and understorey of woodlands/parks

Food

nymphs and adults feed on cotton, soybean, and >50 other crops, plus commercially grown flowers, fruit trees, forest trees in nurseries, and weeds(4)

Life Cycle

overwinters as an adult in the north (active all year in the south); eggs are inserted into plant tissues in the spring, and hatch in 10‒21 days; nymphs develop through 5 instars in 3 weeks; summer life cycle from egg to adult takes approximately 4 weeks; summer adults live 1‒2 months; 3 generations per year in the north, and more in the south

Print References

Young O.P. (1986) Host plants of the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Heteroptera: Miridae). Ann. Ent. Soc. Am. 79: 747‒762.

Internet References

Fact sheets: Dixon & Fasulo (2021)

Works Cited

1.	Revision of the Nearctic species of the genus Lygus Hahn with a review of the Palaearctic species (Heteroptera: Miridae) Schwartz, M.D. and Foottit, R.G. 1998. Associated Publishers.

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

3.	Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

4.	Handbook of vegetable pests Capinera J.L. 2001. Academic Press, San Diego. 729 pp.

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 9 May, 2005 - 9:10pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, v belov, onegunah
Last updated 14 November, 2023 - 4:10pm

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