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Species Sehirus cinctus - White-margined Burrower Bug

Representative Images

Burrowing bug - Sehirus cinctus True bug mystery solved? - Sehirus cinctus unidentified Hemiptera - Sehirus cinctus White-trimmed black microbug - Sehirus cinctus Sehirus cinctus Sehirus cinctus Florida Predatory Stink Bug ? - Sehirus cinctus Cydnidae, White-margined Burrower Bug, dorsal - Sehirus cinctus

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 Cydnidae (Burrowing Bugs)
Genus Sehirus
Species cinctus (White-margined Burrower Bug)

Other Common Names

White-margined Burrowing Bug

Explanation of Names

Sehirus cinctus (Palisot de Beauvois 1811)
cinctus = 'girdled' (refers to the white margin around the body)

Numbers

3 sspp. in our area(1)

Size

4.0-6.5 mm(1)

Identification

distinctive: white dorsal margins unique among our cydnids(2); the only member of its family in our area that climbs vegetation and frequents flowers
key to two sspp. in McPherson (1982)(1); corium marked with white at apex of R in S. c. albonotatus, not marked in S. c. cinctus

Range

e. N. Amer. to BC - Map (3)

S. c. albonotatus - northern transcontinental south to PA & n.CA;
S. c. cinctus - e. US (to NM) & ON;
S. c. texensis - southern(1)(4)(2)

Habitat

Fields, woodlands, lawns and gardens. Adults common on lawn weeds such as Henbit and Purple Dead-nettle, as well as on leaves and flowers of many species of herbaceous plants.

Season

mostly: Mar-Sept (BG data)

Food

developing seeds of Lamiaceae(5); adults on a wide variety of plants(1)

Life Cycle

Overwinters as an adult beneath leaf litter. Eggs deposited in holes in the soil in spring.

Remarks

Adult females care for the young and provision nest with seeds of the mint family. Maternal care discussed here

not harmful to ornamentals, despite great abundance (M. Merchant)

Print References

Sites, R.W. and J.E. McPherson. 1982. Life history and laboratory rearing of Sehirus cinctus cinctus (Hemiptera: Cydnidae), with descriptions of immature stages. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 75(2): 210-215.

Internet References

Insects in the City - Merchant 2011

Works Cited

1.The Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera) of Northeastern North America
J.E. McPherson. 1982. Southern Illinois University Press.
2.The Heteroptera (Hemiptera) of North Dakota I: Pentatomomorpha: Pentatomoidea
Rider D.A. 2012. Great Lakes Entomol. 45: 312‒380.
3.Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
4.Additional provincial and state records for Heteroptera (Hemiptera) in Canada and the United States
Scudder G.G.E. 2012. J. Ent. Soc. Brit. Columbia 109: 55−69.
5.How to Know the True Bugs
Slater, James A., and Baranowski, Richard M. 1978. Wm. C. Brown Company.
Contributed by Cotinis on 11 September, 2004 - 12:01pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, v belov, KenW
Last updated 5 May, 2023 - 12:22am

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