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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Pentatomomorpha » Leatherbugs (Coreoidea) » Broad-headed Bugs (Alydidae) » Alydinae » Alydus

Genus Alydus

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Works Cited

Mating Alydus pilosulus 2 - Alydus pilosulus - male - female

Broad-headed Bug - Alydus sp? - Alydus eurinus

Familiar, but not familiar bug - Alydus pilosulus

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 Pentatomomorpha

Superfamily Coreoidea (Leatherbugs)

Family Alydidae (Broad-headed Bugs)

Subfamily Alydinae

Genus Alydus

Other Common Names

Ant Bugs

Explanation of Names

Alydus Fabricius 1803

Numbers

6 spp. in our area, 9 total(1)

Size

11-15 mm

Identification

Elongate, dark bugs with very broad heads. Some species have red mark on abdomen, possible mimicry of wasps. Nymphs resemble ants.

Key to eastern species [adapted from(2)]:

-Pronotum with humeral angles acute, the side margins calloused and pale-->pilosulus

-Pronotum with humeral angles obtusely rounded, the side margins not distinctly paler than the disk

Head and pronotum with numerous erect hairs; pronotum usually blackish-bronzed, rather coarsely and densely punctate; membrane dark without fuscous spots; claspers of male twisted, not curved; lateral plates of female genitalia acute at apex-->eurinus

Head and pronotum with few if any erect hairs; basal half of pronotum brown, very finely and sparsely punctate; membrane pale with vague fuscous spots; claspers of male curved, divaricate at base, convergent at tip; lateral plates of female genitalia broadly rounded at apex-->conspersus

images of several spp., incl. those not yet in the guide, here(3)

Range

Holarctic and Oriental(1)

Habitat

Varied: fields, forest edges, usually found on herbaceous plants

Season

May-frost in NC(4); Jun-Oct in MN (adults typically late summer)

Food

Suck plant juices, but sometimes found on carrion. A. eurinus and A. conspersus often found on bush-clover, Lespedeza.

Works Cited

1.	Livermore L.J.R., Lemaître V.A., Dolling W.R., Webb M.D. Coreoidea species file online. Version 5.0

2.	Heteroptera of Eastern North America W.S. Blatchley. 1926. The Nature Publishing Company.

3.	Photo gallery of the Spencer Entomological Collection

4.	Insects of North Carolina C.S. Brimley. 1938. North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Contributed by Cotinis on 14 March, 2004 - 8:33pm
Additional contributions by Ron M., v belov
Last updated 8 September, 2019 - 6:56pm

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