''Nezara viridula'', commonly known as the southern green stink bug (USA), southern green shield bug (UK) or green vegetable bug (Australia and New Zealand), is a
plant-feeding stink bug Stink bug or stinkbug is a common name for several insects and may refer to:
* Any of several bugs in the true bug (hemipteran) family Pentatomidae
**''Halyomorpha halys
The brown marmorated stink bug (''Halyomorpha halys'') is an insect in the ...
. Believed to have originated in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, it can now be found around the world.
[Squitier J.M. (1997, updated 2007) ]
Southern green stink bug»
Featured creatures, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural services. Because of its preference for certain species of
legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...
s, such as
bean
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
s and
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...
s, it is an economically important
pest on such crops.
Description
The adult males can reach a body length (from front to elytral apex) of about , while females are bigger, reaching a size of about . The body is usually bright green and
shield-shaped and the eyes are usually reddish, but they may also be black. There is a row of three white spots on the
scutellum. They differ from the similar
green stink bug
The green stink bug or green soldier bug (''Chinavia hilaris'') is a stink bug of the family Pentatomidae.
Taxonomy
The species was previously placed in the genus ''Acrosternum'' but has been classified as in the genus ''Chinavia'' in the more ...
(''Chinavia hilare'') by the shape of their scent
gland
In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland).
Structure
De ...
openings, which are short and wide in ''N. viridula'', and narrow and long in the green stink bug.
Color morphs
Several distinct
morphs can be distinguished by the pattern of their
exoskeleton
An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...
coloration. The most common morph is predominantly green (''Nezara viridula'' f. ''smaragdula''), a less common morph is green with white or yellowish front margins on the head and the
thorax
The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...
(''Nezara viridula'' f. ''torquata'' Fabricius, 1775)
and a very rare morph has a uniformly orange or yellow (occasionally pink) coloration (''Nezara viridula'' ''f. aurantiaca'').
[Mary Golden and Peter A. Follet]
First report of Nezara viridula f. aurantiaca in Hawai
/ref>
Life history
''Nezara viridula'' reproduces throughout the year in tropics
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
. In temperate zone
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
s this species presents a reproductive winter diapause, associated with a reversible change of body colouration from green to brown or russet.[Musolin, Dmitry (2012)]
Surviving winter: diapause syndrome in the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula
Physiological Entomology - Volume 37, Issue 4, pages 309–322
When ready to mate ''N.viridula'' sound 100 Hz vibration with a "tymbal" composed of a fused first and second terga
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'ma ...
(not to be confused with tymbal
The tymbal (or timbal) is the corrugated exoskeletal structure used to produce sounds in insects. In male cicadas, the tymbals are membranes in the abdomen, responsible for the characteristic sound produced by the insect. In tiger moths, the t ...
of cicadas) that allow bi-directional communication to any ''Nezara'' standing on the same plant so they could find each other. The female lays 30 to 130 eggs at a time, in the form of an egg mass glued firmly to the bottom of a leaf
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...
. The eggs are barrel-shaped, with an opening on the top. The eggs take between 5 and 21 days to develop, depending on the temperature. The newborn larvae gather near the empty eggs and do not feed until three days later, after the first moult
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
. They moult five times before reaching maturity, increasing in size each time. Each instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...
stage lasts about a week, except for the last one before the metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...
, which is a day longer. Up to four generations can develop in one year, with eggs developing into adults in as few as 35 days in mid-summer. Up until their third moult the larvae aggregate together on the host plant, the purpose of this aggregation is probably pooling of chemical defenses against predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s, for example ant
Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...
s.
Gallery
File: Nezara viridula13.jpg , Eggs
File: Nezara viridula12.jpg , First instar
File: Nezara viridula11.jpg, Second instar
File: Pentatomidae - Nezara viridula-003.JPG , Third instar
File: Nezara viridula instar 4 on back.jpg , Fourth instar
File: Pentatomidae - Nezara viridula-005.JPG , Fifth instar
File: Pentatomidae - Nezara viridula-004.JPG , Adult, winter color pattern
Ecology
It is a highly polyphagous
Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...
herbivore, able to feed on plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
s from over 30 families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...
, both monocot
Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...
s and dicot
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...
s.[Todd J.W. (1989). «Ecology and behavior of ''Nezara viridula»''. ''Annu. Rev. Entomol.'' 34: 273-292. ] It has a preference for legumes, preferring to feed on plants that are fruiting or forming pods.
The most important factor limiting the population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
in temperate zone
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
s is winter cold. Mortality of overwintering individuals is between 30 and 80%, and the population cannot survive in areas where the average mid-winter temperature is below 5 °C.[Musolin D.L. (2005). ]
The Southern Green Shield Bug Nezara viridula (L.) expands its distribution range, not only in the U.K.»
''Het News'' - Newsletter of the Heteroptera Recording Schemes. Retrieved on 2008-10-14. Females are more likely to survive the winter than males, as are larger individuals and those that develop reddish-brown coloration. In recent decades, the species seems to be expanding its range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
towards the north in the northern hemisphere, possibly because of global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.[Yukava J. et al. (2007). ]
Distribution range shift of two allied species, Nezara viridula and N. antennata (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), in Japan, possibly due to global warming
. ''Applied Entomology and Zoology'' 42(2): 205-215 The animal's ability to survive the winter also depends on the timely onset of diapause
In animal dormancy, diapause is the delay in development in response to regular and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions.Tauber, M.J., Tauber, C.A., Masaki, S. (1986) ''Seasonal Adaptations of Insects''. Oxford University Press It ...
.
Origin and range
''Nezara viridula'' is a cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
species, living in tropical and subtropical regions of Americas, Africa, Asia, Australasia and Europe between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south. Its exact origin is unknown, but it is believed to have originated from the Ethiopia region of East Africa, from where it has spread around the world thanks to its strong flight and human trade routes.
See also
* Green stink bug
The green stink bug or green soldier bug (''Chinavia hilaris'') is a stink bug of the family Pentatomidae.
Taxonomy
The species was previously placed in the genus ''Acrosternum'' but has been classified as in the genus ''Chinavia'' in the more ...
(''Chinavia hilare'')
References
External links
*
''Nezara viridula'' pheromones
in Pherobase.
Fauna Europaea
video of Nezara viridula
{{Taxonbar, from=Q600498
Nezarini
Cosmopolitan arthropods
Agricultural pest insects
Bugs described in 1758
Insects of Ethiopia
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Insect pests of millets