''Alydus calcaratus'' is a bug species with a

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical region ...

distribution ranging from the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

almost all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Moreover, the species also in northern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

and

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. It is the only species in the family in northern

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

outside of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. ''Alydus calcaratus'' is a large (10.0 to 12.0 mm), oblong and mainly blackish-coloured bug. The head is as wide as the pronotum, the rear corners of the pronotum are rounded. The hind leg (femora) of the males are thickened and have several strong spines on the underside. As with all the other species of the family (

Alydidae Alydidae, commonly known as broad-headed bugs, is a family of true bugs very similar to the closely related Coreidae (leaf-footed bugs and relatives). There are at least 60 genera and 300 species altogether. Distributed in the temperate and warme ...

), the antennae have four segments, of which the fourth is curved. The body is blackish, the dorsum of the abdomen has a bright orange patch, which is visible only in flight. They resemble spider-hunting wasps such as ''

Arachnospila ''Arachnospila'' is a predominantly Holarctic genus of spider wasps, with limited representation in montane habitats in Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, ...

''. ''Alydus calcaratus'' is

phytophagous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

, the imagines and the nymphs feeding mostly on fallen seeds of various legumes (Fabaceae) especially species of the genera ''

Sarothamnus ''Cytisus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to open sites (typically scrub and heathland) in Europe, western Asia and North Africa. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and is one of several genera in the tribe G ...

'', ''

Cytisus ''Cytisus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to open sites (typically scrub and heathland) in Europe, western Asia and North Africa. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and is one of several genera in the tribe Ge ...

'', ''

Genista Genista is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, native to open habitats such as moorland and pasture in Europe and western Asia. They include species commonly called broom, though the term may also refer to other genera, i ...

'' and ''

Ulex ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

''. Feeding on vertebrate carrion and faeces has also been observed. In

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, imagines can be observed from the middle or end of June at the earliest, most occur in early August to mid-September, and the last observations are in October. The animals mate from July to September, nymphs were found from May to August. Information on the way of life of the nymphs is contradictory. The nymphs are said to live in ant nests but the nature of the relationship of the nymphs to ants is still unclear. The habitat is heaths, dry grassland, dry places with light soils and sand dunes.

References

* Achim Schuster: ''Die Wanzen (Insecta: Heteroptera) West-Mecklenburgs, Teil 3 (Krummfühlerwanzen, Alydidae).'' Virgo, Mitteilungsblatt des Entomologischen Vereins Mecklenburg 12. Jahrgang, Heft 1, 2009: S. 8
text online als PDF
* Ekkehard Wachmann, Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: ''Wanzen Band 3: Aradidae, Lygaeidae, Piesmatidae, Berytidae, Pyrrhocoridae, Alydidae, Coreidae, Rhopalidae, Stenocephalidae.'' Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, : S. 198-201

External links

British Bugs
{{Taxonbar, from=Q150148 Hemiptera of Europe Alydinae