Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

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

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Heterotoma planicornis

Something nymph - Heterotoma planicornis Insect - Heterotoma planicornis Plant Bug - Heterotoma planicornis Heterotoma planicornis? - Heterotoma planicornis unique antennea... - Heterotoma planicornis unique antennea... - Heterotoma planicornis Springtail - Heterotoma planicornis Plant Bug (myrid) - Heterotoma planicornis
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 Orthotylinae
Tribe Orthotylini
Genus Heterotoma
Species planicornis (Heterotoma planicornis)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
=merioptera auct. nec Scopoli 1763
discussion here
Explanation of Names
Heterotoma planicornis (Pallas 1772)
Size
4.5-5.5 mm(1)
Identification
Adult: black with green femora and very unusual antennae extending forward from head; pronotum and hemelytra black, sparsely covered with mixture of dark and pale hairs; tibiae yellowish-brown
Range
native to Europe, adventive in our area and established in the east (NS-NC) and in the west (BC-CA-UT)(2)(3)
Habitat
on weeds such as nettle (Urtica) and deadnettle (Lamium spp.) plus various shrubs and trees
Season
adults Jun-Oct, nymphs May-Jun
Food
adults and nymphs prey on aphids and other small insects; also feed on buds and unripe fruit of various plants
Life Cycle
overwinters as an egg; one generation per year
Remarks
may have been inadvertently introduced along with alien plants -- like it was accidentally introduced to New Zealand with Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius)(4)
earliest NA record: NY 1915(5)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.Bantock T., Botting J. (2010‒) British Bugs, an online identification guide to UK Hemiptera
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.A Synthesis of the Holarctic Miridae (Heteroptera): Distribution, Biology, and Origin, with Emphasis on North America
A. G., Jr. Wheeler & Thomas J. Henry. 1992. Entomological Society of America.
4.Heteroptera of economic importance
Schaefer C.W., Panizzi A.R. (eds). 2000. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 828 pp.
5.Alien true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) in Canada: composition and adaptations
Scudder G.G.E., Foottit R.G. 2006. Can. Entomol. 138: 24-51.