Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa

Calendar

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Pentatomomorpha » Pentatomoidea » Plataspidae

Family Plataspidae

Globular Stink Bugs - Megacopta cribraria

Kudzu Bug (Megacopta cribraria)? - Megacopta cribraria

Kudzu Bug - Lateral - Megacopta cribraria

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 Pentatomoidea

Family Plataspidae

Explanation of Names

Plataspididae Dallas 1851

Numbers

2 recently introduced spp. in our area(1)(Halbert et al. 2020), ~560 spp. in ~60 genera worldwide, a half of the spp. are in Coptosoma(2)

Size

2-20 mm(3)

Identification

beetlelike, strongly convex, often as broad or broader than long, antennae appear 4-segmented, scutellum covers abdomen completely, wings very long and folding under scutellum, tarsi 2-segmented(3)

Range

an Old World family (mostly tropical/subtropical, with some Coptosoma spp. ranging into temperate Palaearctic(3)), most diverse in se. Asia(2); represented in the New World by a single recently introduced species(1)

Food

mostly herbivorous; some subsist on fungi(4)

Remarks

Females create a multilayers protective envelope in their distal midgut which deposits at the same time as oviposition occurs. The new hatchings feed on this capsule and its contents, establishing the microbial symbiosis their need.(5)

Works Cited

1.	Occurrence of the Old World bug Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae) in Georgia... Eger J.E., Ames L.M., Suiter D.R., Jenkins T.M., Rider D.A., Halbert S.E. 2010. Insecta Mundi 0121: 1-11.

2.	Biodiversity of the Heteroptera Henry T.J. 2009. In: Foottit R.G., Adler P.H., eds. Insect biodiversity: Science and society. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 223−263.

3.	True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera:Heteroptera): Classification and Natural History Randall T. Schuh & James Alexander Slater. 1995. 1995. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.

4.	Bugs of the World George C. McGavin. 1999. Blandford Press.

5.	Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes Angela E. Douglas. 2022. Princeton University Press.

Contributed by v belov on 5 August, 2010 - 1:58pm
Additional contributions by Marci Hess
Last updated 12 December, 2023 - 10:45am

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Printer Friendly Version

Family Plataspidae

Representative Images

Classification

Explanation of Names

Numbers

Size

Identification

Range

Food

Remarks

Works Cited