Hemiptera. or “Bugs” to You
“Bugs”
Some people call all insects bugs but ‘true’ bugs are of the order Hemiptera. All of these have piercing mouthparts designed for sucking juices from plants or animals. So, the following are not bugs – Ladybirds, beetles, earwigs, crickets, grasshoppers etc. There are 1,830 species of bug in Britain compared with just 59 resident species of butterfly.
Anyone with a garden with live plants, shrubs or trees will have bugs in them. Some are less than welcome such as aphids, but most bugs are harmless and often quite colourful. And they do have some wonderful names such Shieldbugs, Leatherbugs and Firebugs. There are Stiltbugs and Lacebugs – not to mention Bedbugs although hopefully you will not have encountered those! The Assassin Bugs hunt Bed bugs, Silverfish, Harvestmen and spiders. In the water you might find Pondskaters, Backswimmers and Water Boatmen. Then there are Froghoppers, Lacehoppers and Leafhoppers. Some have descriptive common names such as Stinkbugs and Squashbugs.
The Parent Shieldbug protects its offspring by sitting over the eggs before they hatch and then guarding the young nymphs. The photo shows a couple of Dock Bugs which could be found in large numbers down at the Watercress Beds in September. The Red-legged Shieldbug seems to have done well in Wenvoe this year and is often associated with Apple, Birch and Hawthorn.
So, look out for the ‘true’ bugs and unless they are aphids encourage them to flourish and they will repay you by keeping down some of the garden pests that might not be so welcome.