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Shield bug

Reo Maori

Shield bugEnglish name: shield bug

Scientific name: Oncacontias vittatus (Fabricius)
order = Hemiptera; family = Acanthosomatidae

  • was one of the first insects from Aotearoa / New Zealand to be described by a European scientist (by the Swedish entomologist Fabricius in 1781), from collections made during Captain Cook's visits;
  • occurs throughout Aotearoa / New Zealand in many habitats;
  • produces one generation each year;
  • nymphs seem to prefer grasses, especially toetoe;
  • adults apparently feed on a wide range of endemic plants;
  • is one of very few species of plant bug in Aotearoa / New Zealand known to feed on "hard-leaved" trees such as rimu.
Shield bug.  Image - Birgit Rhode

See Larivière, M.-C. 1995: Cydnidae, Acanthosomatidae, and Pentatomidae (Insecta: Heteroptera). Fauna of New Zealand 35.
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