''Gonocerus acuteangulatus'' is a herbivorous species of

true bug Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from to around ...

in the family Coreidae.Livermore L.J.R., Lemaître V.A., Dolling W.R. e Webb M.D
Coreoidea Species File Online
/ref> It is commonly known as the box bug in the UK as it once only occurred in Box Hill in Surrey where it fed on box trees.

Taxonomy

This species was formally described by the German zoologist Johann Goeze in 1778, under the name ''Cimex acuteangulatus''.

Distribution

This species commonly occurs throughout the Mediterranean region and extends to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and parts of northwestern Europe.

Habitat

These heat-loving bugs inhabit mainly dry and warm, south-exposed environments, bushes and forest edges with shrubs that bear berries and small trees of various families, especially Buxaceae and

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...

, as well as '' Rosa canina'' and ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'' species (

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

) or ''

Lonicera xylosteum ''Lonicera xylosteum'', commonly known as fly honeysuckle, European fly honeysuckle, dwarf honeysuckle or fly woodbine is a deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and " ...

'' (

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and ea ...

Description

''Gonocerus acuteangulatus'' is a medium-sized insect, between 11 and 14 mm long as an adult. These bugs are speckled reddish-brown with a slightly expanded

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

. The nymphs have a green abdomen. This species is rather similar to ''

Coreus marginatus ''Coreus marginatus'' is a herbivorous species of true bug in the family Coreidae. It is commonly known as the dock bug as it feeds on the leaves and seeds of docks and sorrels. It is a medium-sized speckled brown insect, between 13 and 15 ...

'', but it shows a narrower abdomen and has sharper lateral margins of the pronotum (hence the Latin species name ''acuteangulatus''). GonocerusBug macrogiants B

Biology

Adults can be found all year. They mainly feed on the juice of the ripe fruits of the host plants. This species is a harmful pest of the hazel and pistachio. It can also be a vector of the fungus ''

Nematospora coryli (originally ) is a plant pathogen that causes stigmatomycosis. Description It is cultivated on potato dextrose agar and grows as yeast-like oval or spherical budding cells either isolated or in short chains and has few hyphae which are septat ...

'', an agent of

stigmatomycosis Stigmatomycosis is a fungal disease that occurs in a number of crops, such as cotton, soybean, pecan, pomegranate, citrus, and pistachio. It has been reported on pistachio in Greece, Iran, Russia, and is frequently a problem in California pistachi ...

.Ermenegildo Tremblay. Entomologia applicata. Volume II Parte I. 1a ed. Napoli, Liguori Editore, 1981, 61-63. .

Gallery

Gonocerus acuteangulatus-pjt2.jpg, Mating Gonocerus acuteangulus Nymphe.jpg, Nymph with

exuvia In biology, exuviae are the remains of an exoskeleton and related structures that are left after ecdysozoans (including insects, crustaceans and arachnids) have moulted. The exuviae of an animal can be important to biologists as they can often b ...

. Gonocerus acuteangulatus qtl1.jpg, Late instarnymph Gonocerus acuteangulatus.ogv, Video clip

Bibliography

*Ekkehard Wachmann, Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Wanzen. Band 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (Rindenwanzen), Lygaeoidea (Bodenwanzen u. a.), Pyrrhocoroidea (Feuerwanzen) und Coreoidea (Randwanzen u. a.). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, . *Ekkehard Wachmann, Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Wanzen. Band 5: Supplementband. Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, Leptopodomorpha, Cimicomorpha und Pentatomomorpha. Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2012, .

References

Insects described in 1778 Hemiptera of Europe Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Johann August Ephraim Goeze Gonocerini {{Coreidae-stub