''Graphosoma lineatum'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

shield bug The Pentatomoidea are a superfamily of insects in the Heteroptera suborder of the Hemiptera order. As Hemiptera, they share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. The roughly 7000 species under Pentatomoidea are divided into 21 families (1 ...

in the family

Pentatomidae Pentatomidae is a family of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, generally called shield bugs or stink bugs. Pentatomidae is the largest family in the superfamily Pentatomoidea, and contains around 900 genera and over 4700 species.Robert G ...

Description

''G. lineatum'' can reach a length of . The body is almost round, with a large shield. The basic color of the upperside of the body is orange yellow, with wide black longitudinal stripes. The

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

has six black bands. The antennae are black. Also the sides of the abdominal segments (connexivum) are yellow with many small black spots. The legs are mostly orange, which distinguishes it from its relative, '' G. italicum''.

Taxonomy

''Graphosoma italicum'' had been regarded as either a subspecies, or a synonym of ''G. lineatum'', but the validity of ''G. italicum'' was reestablished via DNA analysis, which demonstrated that the sister species to ''G. italicum'' is '' G. rubrolineatum'', while ''G. lineatum'' is more closely related to '' G. semipunctatum''.R. Lupoli & F. Dusoulier (2006) ''Les Punaises Pentatomoidea de France.'' Ancyrosoma R. Lupoli
''Graphosoma lineatum'' (L., 1758) and ''G. italicum'' (O.F. Müller, 1766), two valid and distinct species, probably derived from the Zanclean mediterranean transgression (Hemiptera Pentatomidae)
L'Entomologiste T73 n°1 (2017) pp. 19-33.

Subspecies

* ''G. l. lineatum'' (Linnaeus, 1758) - nominate subspecies * ''G. l. siciliensis'' Lupoli, 2017 -

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Black legged, more reddish coloured; only occurrence of the species in Europe, it actually looks close to its European relative, ''G. italicum''.

Similar species

* ''

Graphosoma italicum ''Graphosoma italicum'' is a species of shield bug in the family Pentatomidae. It is also known as the Striped bug (or Italian striped bug) and Minstrel bug. Description ''G. italicum'' can reach a length of . The body is almost round, with a la ...

'' (Müller, 1766) - The legs are black. The distribution is throughout

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 ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. * '' Graphosoma semipunctatum'' (Fabricius, 1775) - The legs are orange, the red and black bands are interrupted on the pronotum, where they form black points. The distribution is restricted to the Mediterranean region. * '' Graphosoma melanoxanthum'' Horvath, 1903 - Dark connexivi with small red points, it is distributed in South

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Distribution

''G. lineatum'' is distributed across

Northern Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

(

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

). The subspecies ''G. l. siciliensis'' occurs only in Sicily.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q178480 Podopinae Aposematic species Bugs described in 1758 Hemiptera of Africa Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus