Family Plataspidae

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

Megacepta cribaria - Kudzu Bug - Megacopta cribraria

Ladybug Size Beetle - 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

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