''Coleotichus blackburniae'' is a species of insect in the family Scutelleridae, the jewel bugs. It is commonly known as the Koa bug or the Koa shield bug. It has been dubbed the stinkless stink bug for its lack of the malodorous defensive chemicals present in other

heteroptera The Heteroptera are a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the order Hemiptera. They are sometimes called "true bugs", though that name more commonly refers to the Hemiptera as a whole. "Typical bugs" might be used as a more unequivocal al ...

ns. It is Hawaii's largest endemic true bug.

Description

The exoskeletons of Koa bugs contain many different iridescent colours.http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/affiliates/prism/documents/KoaBugLesson.pdf Koa Bug Investigation The eggs hatch approximately 9 days after being laid. They are only a few millimetres wide, and are laid in a tight cluster. They are green in colour at first, and then turn red as they develop.

Distribution and habitat

This insect occurs on all the main islands of Hawaii.Koa Bug
/ref>Species Profile for Koa shield bug (Coleotichus blackburniae)
/ref> They are found on `a`ali`i ('' Dodonaea viscosa'') bushesInsects of Hawaii: Coleotichus blackburniae (Koa bug)
/ref> and koa ('' Acacia koa'') trees. Coleotichus blackburniae03

Also found on Formosan Koa (Acacia confusa) which is native to Southeast Asia. It has been commonly used in Hawaii as an ornamental landscape tree that has been deemed invasive. A. confusa and A. koa both have distinctive phyllodes that differentiate each species but since its introduction C. blackburniae has been recorded to associate with the invasive Formosan koa.

Behaviour and diet

Common to all true bugs, this species has no mouth parts with which to bite, cut, or chew its food. Instead it has a tube-like structure that it uses to suck the contents from the seeds of several types of koa and `a`ali`i plants. Numbers of this insect were greatly reduced on most of the Hawaiian islands. Two

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

flies which prey on hemipterans, ''

Trichopoda pennipes ''Trichopoda pennipes'' is a species of feather-legged fly in the dipteran family Tachinidae. Distribution This species is native to North America (United States, Mexico), Hawaiian Islands and South America and has been introduced into south ...

'' and ''Trissolcus basalis'' were introduced with the intention of controlling '' Nezara viridula'', but also attacked the koa bug. While ''Trissolcus basalis'' attacked the Koa Bug's eggs, ''

'' attacked Koa Bug adults. Today, the Koa Bug is common in only a few areas of the Big Island.

References

External links

Images

Egg images

Image showing range in Hawaii

Koa Bug Investigation: Many excellent images of adults, nymphs, eggs, and anatomical details
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5144593 Scutelleridae Insects described in 1881 Insects of Hawaii