The Pentatomoidea are a superfamily of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s in the

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 ...

suborder of the

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

order. As Hemiptera, they share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. The roughly 7000 species under Pentatomoidea are divided into 21

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. Ideal ...

(16 extant and 5 extinct). Among these are the stink bugs and shield bugs, jewel bugs, giant shield bugs, and burrower bugs.

Description

The Pentatomoidea are characterised by a well-developed scutellum (the hardened extension of 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 ...

over the

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. ...

). It can be triangular to semielliptical in shape. The antennae typically have five segments. The tarsi usually have two or three segments. Shield bugs have prothoracic glands (in their thoraces, between the first and second pair of legs) that produce a foul-smelling liquid, which is used defensively to deter potential predators and is sometimes released when the bugs are handled. These prothoracic glands are also present in the

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

, which are similar to adults except smaller and without wings. The nymphs and adults have distinctive piercing mouthparts, with

mandibles In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

and

maxillae The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

modified to form a piercing "stylet" sheathed within a modified labium. The stylet is used to suck sap from plants, or in some cases to suck blood from other animals. Pentatomoidea are mostly

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 ...

, although some are

hematophagous Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious p ...

. They can become significant pests, causing economic damage to certain crops. Species that resemble pentatomoids are found in the superfamily

Coreoidea Coreoidea is a superfamily of true bugs in the infraorder Pentatomomorpha which includes leaf-footed bugs and allies. There are more than 3,300 described species in Coreoidea. There are five extant families presently recognized, but the Coreoi ...

Families

These families are classified under Pentatomoidea:

Extant

Acanthosomatidae Acanthosomatidae is a family of Hemiptera, commonly named "shield bugs," for which Kumar in his 1979 world revision recognized 47 genera; now this number is 55 genera, with about 200 species, and is one of the least diversified families within P ...

– known as shield bugs, contains 46 genera and 184 species found worldwide * Canopidae – found strictly in the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

P220 Randall T. Schuh, James Alexander Slater, ''True bugs of the world (Hemiptera:Heteroptera): classification and natural history'', Cornell University Press, 1995, *

Cydnidae Cydnidae are a family of pentatomoid bugs, known by common names including burrowing bugs or burrower bugs. As the common name would suggest, many members of the group live a subterranean lifestyle, burrowing into soil using their head and forel ...

– known as burrowing bugs, it contains 120 genera and about 765 species worldwide. *

Dinidoridae The Dinidoridae are a small family of insects comprising about a hundred species in sixteen genera in the Hemipteran suborder Heteroptera, the "true bugs".Lis, Jerzy A; Lis; Pawel; Ziaja, Dariusz J; Kocorek, Anna. Systematic position of Dinid ...

– found in tropical

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, composed of 16 genera and about 65 species * Lestoniidae – small, round bugs that bear a resemblance to

tortoise beetles The Cassidinae (tortoise and leaf-mining beetles) are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae. The antennae arise close to each other and some members have the pronotal and elytral edges extended to the side and covering the legs so as ...

(

Chrysomelidae The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

), composed only of one genus and two species, endemic to Australia *

Megarididae Megarididae is a family of true bugs in the superfamily Pentatomoidea. The family consists of a single extant genus ''Megaris'' with about 16 species restricted to the Neotropical Realm and a fossil is known from Dominican amber. Bugs in the fa ...

– contains only one extant genus (''

Megaris :''This is also the ancient Greek name of a small island off Naples, site of the Castel dell'Ovo.'' Megaris ( grc, Μεγαρίς) was a small but populous state of ancient Greece, west of Attica and north of Corinthia, whose inhabitants were adv ...

'') and 16 species, small, globular bugs occurring in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

www.discoverlife.org
/ref> * Parastrachiidae – bright red and black bugs exhibiting maternal care of eggs, it contains only two genera: '' Dismegistus'' (Africa) and Parastrachia (Eastern Asia). *

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 ...

– known as stink bugs, it is the largest family in Pentatomoidea. It contains around 900 genera and over 4700 species. * Phloeidae – large mottled brown and flattened bugs found strictly in the

. It is composed on only 2 genera and 3 species. They are known to exhibit strong maternal care. *

Plataspidae Plataspidae (Emendation (taxonomy), emended by some later authors as "Plataspididae", in violation of International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, ICZN Code Article 29.5) are a family of shield bugs native to the Old World. They are a family of ...

– found in Asia, particularly eastern Asia, although a few species of ''

Coptosoma ''Coptosoma'' is a genus of true bugs belonging to the family Plataspidae, subfamily Plataspinae. Selected species References External links BiolibFauna europaea''Coptosoma''
at insectoid.info * Shield bugs Pentatomomorpha gener ...

'' occur in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

. They are round plant-feeding bugs. It has about 59 genera and 560 species. *

Saileriolidae Saileriolidae is a family of true bugs and is considered a basal or "primitive" family within the stink-bug lineage. They are found only in Asia. Originally included within the family Urostylididae Urostylididae is a family of true bugs and i ...

- only recently removed from inclusion within Urostylididae. *

Scutelleridae Scutelleridae is a family of true bugs. They are commonly known as jewel bugs or metallic shield bugs due to their often brilliant coloration. They are also known as shield-backed bugs due to the enlargement of the thoracic scutellum into a con ...

– known as jewel bugs or shield-backed bugs. Composed of 81 genera and about 450 species. *

Tessaratomidae Tessaratomidae is a family of true bugs. It contains about 240 species of large bugs divided into 3 subfamilies and 56 genera. Tessaratomids resemble large stink bugs (family Pentatomidae) and are sometimes quite colorful. Most tessaratomids ar ...

– known as giant shield bugs because they are usually relatively large. Has about 55 genera and 240 species worldwide (mainly in the Old World tropics). * Thaumastellidae – small bugs usually found under rocks in tropical Africa and the Middle East. It contains only one genus and three species. There is some debate to their inclusion within Pentatomoidea. *

Thyreocoridae The Thyreocoridae are a family of shield bugs, known by common names that include negro bugs or ebony bugs. Historically, a few authors have called this family "Corimelaenidae" (e.g.), but the name Thyreocoridae, published in 1843, has nomenclat ...

– includes the former family, subfamily

Corimelaeninae The Corimelaeninae are a subfamily of shield bugs within the family Thyreocoridae The Thyreocoridae are a family of shield bugs, known by common names that include negro bugs or ebony bugs. Historically, a few authors have called this family ...

– known as ebony bugs, they are small, oval, shiny black bugs. *

Urostylididae Urostylididae is a family of true bugs and is considered a Basal (phylogenetics), basal or "primitive" family within the stink-bug lineage. They are found only in Asia. Older works used the spelling Urostylidae but this clashes with the name used ...

– contains about 11 genera and 170 species. They are found in Southern and Eastern Asia.Robert G. Foottit, Peter H. Adler ''Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society'', John Wiley and Sons, 2009, ( including Korea).

Extinct

*† Mesopentacoridae Popov 1968 Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, Asia *† Primipentatomidae – family with about four Early Cretaceous fossil species from China. *† Probascanionidae Handlirsch 1921 Monotypic, Early Jurassic, Germany *† Protocoridae Handlirsch 1906 Early-Middle Jurassic, Eurasia *† Venicoridae Yao et al. 2012 Early Cretaceous, China

Phylogeny

The morphological unweighted tree of Pentatomoidea after Grazia et al. (2008).

Gallery

References

External links

Stink Bug Fact Sheet
from the United States National Pest Management Association {{Taxonbar, from=Q2341257 Hemiptera superfamilies Agricultural pest insects