Colourful Bugs

True bugs - Hemiptera - are largely overlooked, perhaps because many are small, some are dull and they change their appearance dramatically as they mutate through several nymph stages, making them far too tricky to identify. Some of them are, however, absolutely stunning.

This is a nymph stage of Cicadella viridis, one of the leaf-hoppers, about 8mm long. The stunning purple-blue colour is absolutely accurate. The adult is a wonderful powdered turquoise, and I'll show it soon.

My first reaction on seeing the following shot was 'bird-dropping, full of seeds', but it quickly resolved into a cluster of nymphs of the Forest Shieldbug - Pentatoma rufipes. These are common enough, but I hadn't seen the 'huddling' habit before.


My next thought was that they were on some common prey, such as a caterpillar, but no: as I touched the leaf they dispersed, leaving nothing behind. Lurking close-by I found a later nymph stage of the same Shieldbug:



This is Calocoris stysi, one of the Mirid bugs: